Gender Diversity in Bank Boardrooms and Green Lending: Evidence from euro area credit register

Seminar abstract

Do female directors in banks’ boards influence lending decisions towards more/less polluting firms? By using granular credit register data matched with information on 539,928 firm-level greenhouse gas (GHG) emission intensities, we isolate credit supply and find that banks with more gender-diverse boards provide less credit to browner companies. This evidence is robust when we differentiate among different types of GHG emissions and control for endogeneity concerns. In addition, we also show that female director-specific characteristics matter for lending behaviour to more/less polluting firms as better-educated directors grant lower credit volumes to more polluting firms. Finally, we document that the “greening” effect of the female members in banks’ boardrooms is stronger in countries with more female climate-oriented politicians.

How to join this seminar

This seminar is free to attend.

Please contact Dr Anna Sarkisyan for details on how to join this seminar online.

Speaker bio

Dr Livia Pancotto is a Lecturer in Banking at the Department of Accounting and Finance of the University of Strathclyde. She is the Director of the MSc International Banking and Finance. She has obtained her PhD in Banking and Finance from Bangor University (UK). She also holds a master’s degree in the same field from Bangor University (UK) and both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Sapienza University of Rome (Italy).
Livia’s research interests cover the areas of empirical banking, European banking, banking regulation, financial stability & systemic risk, financial markets & intermediaries and credit derivatives. Her research has been published in internationally recognised journals, including Journal of Financial Stability, European Journal of Finance, Journal of International Money and Finance, Finance Research Letters. She has also published a paper within the European Central Bank (ECB) Working Paper Series