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Gender board diversity and the cost of bank loans

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  • Karavitis, Panagiotis
  • Kokas, Sotirios
  • Tsoukas, Serafeim

Abstract

We examine the relationship between female board representation and the cost of lending, using a dataset of 13,714 loans from 386 banks matched with 2432 non-financial firms from 1999 to 2013. We find that firms with female directors command lower loan spreads. In addition, female independent directors have a stronger impact on lowering spreads compared to female directors' other attributes. However, as firms build relationships with their lenders this effect becomes less potent. Finally, when we introduce firm-level heterogeneity we document that changes in gender diversity exert a stronger impact on the cost of lending in the case of bank-dependent firms, especially for relationship borrowers.

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  • Karavitis, Panagiotis & Kokas, Sotirios & Tsoukas, Serafeim, 2021. "Gender board diversity and the cost of bank loans," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:corfin:v:71:y:2021:i:c:s0929119920302480
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2020.101804
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    Cited by:

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    4. Kara, Alper & Nanteza, Aziidah & Ozkan, Aydin & Yildiz, Yilmaz, 2022. "Board gender diversity and responsible banking during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
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    6. Salvador Cruz Rambaud & Joaquín López Pascual & Roberto Moro-Visconti & Emilio M. Santandreu, 2022. "Should gender be a determinant factor for granting crowdfunded microloans?," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-13, December.
    7. Alharbi, Rana & Elnahass, Marwa & McLaren, Josie, 2022. "Women directors and market valuation: What are the “Wonder Woman” attributes in banking?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    8. Mollah, Sabur & Liljeblom, Eva & Mobarek, Asma, 2021. "Heterogeneity in independent non-executive directors' attributes and risk-taking in large banks," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    9. Davydov, Denis & Garanina, Tatiana & Weill, Laurent, 2022. "Managing bank liquidity hoarding during uncertain times : The role of board gender diversity," BOFIT Discussion Papers 11/2022, Bank of Finland, Institute for Economies in Transition.
    10. Davydov, Denis & Garanina, Tatiana & Weill, Laurent, 2022. "Managing bank liquidity hoarding during uncertain times: The role of board gender diversity," BOFIT Discussion Papers 11/2022, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Gender diversity; Board of directors; Bank loans; Relationship lending;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General

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