Board Gender Diversity and Bank Performance during COVID-19: Did Women Save the Day?
1 : Laboratory for Banking Studies, HSE University
This paper explores the impact of board gender diversity on bank performance during the COVID-19 crisis. Using data from 87 European banks from 2015 to 2021, we show that the presence of women on bank boards had a positive impact on bank profitability during the COVID-19 crisis. This effect is more pronounced in countries where the morbidity rate is higher. Our results suggest a negative relationship between the women on bank boards and bank credit risk during the pandemic. The impact of women on insolvency risk, however, appears only for banks with relatively large boards.