Does CEO gender matter for bank risk?

Dorota Skała and Laurent Weill

Economic Systems, 2018, vol. 42, issue 1, 64-74

Abstract: This paper addresses the relation between CEO gender and bank risk. We exploit a unique dataset of 365 Polish cooperative banks, 42% of which are run by female CEOs. We find that banks headed by female CEOs are less risky: they report higher capital adequacy and equity to assets ratios. Credit risk in female-led banks is not different from male-led banks, and therefore higher capital adequacy does not stem from lower asset quality and is likely to be linked to higher risk aversion of female CEOs. Our evidence supports the view that women are more risk averse bank CEOs than men. Our findings suggest that gender quotas in bank boards can contribute to reduce risk-taking behavior.

Keywords: Female CEOs; Bank risk-taking; Gender (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G21 J16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecosys:v:42:y:2018:i:1:p:64-74

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecosys.2017.08.005

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