Do women directors impact the cost of bank financing? Evidence from Australia

Abstract

We investigate the effect of women directors on the cost of bank loans for a sample of Australian listed firms during the period 2002-2017. More women on both boards and committees are associated with lower loan spreads, reduced default risk, and improved financial reporting quality. The reduction in loan spread is seen from when the first female director joins the board, and the effect of that is stronger than the effects of additional (second and subsequent) women joining the board. Moreover, women’s leadership status reinforces this effect. Our results are consistent with the idea that female directors exhibit greater risk aversion than male directors, that women are not treated as tokens and are influential—even as a minority group on the board—and that they enhance corporate governance and reporting quality.

Keywords

• Women directors
• Gender diversity
• Women’s leadership
• Bank loans
• Loan spread