Research: gender diversity in banks' boardrooms contributes to sustainable lending strategies

Research by Strathclyde Business School academic Dr Livia Pancotto of the Department of Accounting and Finance has shown that gender diversity in banks’ boardrooms contributes to fighting climate change via more sustainable lending strategies.

The recent research - jointly published by the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), co-authored by Leonardo Gambacorta (BIS), Livia Pancotto (University of Strathclyde), Alessio Reghezza (University of Genoa and ECB) and Martina Spaggiari (ECB) - finds that euro area banks with a higher share of female directors lend about 10% less to firms with relatively high pollution intensity.

The study also documents that the banks’ “greening effect” is more pronounced in countries with more female climate-oriented politicians and that female directors’ specific characteristics matter.

The research Gender Diversity in Bank Boardrooms and Green Lending: Evidence from Euro Area Credit Register Data has been published and is available as a working paper online.

News of the research was also included in the Bloomberg UK website  

Published: 25 October 2022