MD Told me to screen only Asian Men?

So I’m a new VP who internally lateraled to the US. I got pulled into resume screening for summer associate interviews. Thought it’d be chill, look for good GPAs, finance clubs, cool hobbies whatever.

Was told “only focus on men with Asian names”. I thought he was joking but then he straight up told me to skip over anyone outside that profile.

I get that banking has target demographics but this felt insane. I didn’t say anything because I’m not about to argue with someone who could fire me in 2 seconds. But is this actually how it works at most places where you get verbal screening rules?