Does Gender Representation at Decision Making Levels Matter for Better Financial Performance of Local Licensed Commercial Banks in Sri Lanka?

Aim: Female representation in top corporate positions has been discussed widely around the world over the last decade, mainly due to the significant gap observed between the number of females with higher educational qualifications and the number of females in employment. Accordingly, this study aims to identify the relationship between the female presence within boardrooms and top management teams of local licensed commercial banks and the financial performance of those banks, which is a timely concern.

Place and Duration of Study: Amana Bank PLC, Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC, DFCC Bank PLC, Hatton National Bank PLC, National Development Bank PLC, Nations Trust Bank PLC, Pan Asia Banking Corporation PLC, Sampath Bank PLC, Seylan Bank PLC, and Union Bank of Colombo PLC were studied during the time period 2011 to 2019.

Methodology: The time series data analysis method has been used for 10 local licensed commercial banks in Sri Lanka, excluding one bank which was not a PLC. The annual reports of the respective banks were used to gather the secondary data required for the study.

Results: The regression analysis explained that female presence within boardrooms is positive and significant with respect to ROE and positive and insignificant with respect to ROA, whereas females in top management has a positive but insignificant relationship to ROA and a negative but insignificant relationship to ROE. The percentage changes in ROE and ROA explained by the two independent variables are relatively low. Accordingly, no significant relationships between female presence within boardrooms and top management teams and firm financial performance were identified.

Conclusion: The insignificant relationships between the variables indicate that it is not necessary for these banks to employ females in order to prosper in their financial performance. However, the banks could still consider employing females in the boardroom to empower gender equality since such a presence does not have a negative impact on financial performance.