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Gender board diversity and the cost of bank loans

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  • Panagiotis Karavitis
  • Sotirios Kokas
  • Serafeim Tsoukas

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 2,432 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.

Suggested Citation

  • Panagiotis Karavitis & Sotirios Kokas & Serafeim Tsoukas, 2020. "Gender board diversity and the cost of bank loans," Working Papers 2020_25, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow.
    • Handle: RePEc:gla:glaewp:2020_25
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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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