Banking on Women Leaders

Featuring

Ratna Sahay, Deputy Director, Monetary and Capital Markets Department, International Monetary Fund

Moderator

Liliana Rojas-Suarez, Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development

The “glass ceiling” in finance has barely cracked. Compared to the available talent pool, there is still a large gap between the representation of men and women in leadership positions in banks and bank supervision agencies worldwide. In her presentation, Ratna Sahay will summarize new data on banking sector characteristics and performance, as well as the share of women on the boards of directors and banking supervision agency boards. The data indicate that—contrary to common perceptions—many low- and middle-income countries have a higher share of women in bank boards and banking supervision agency boards compared to advanced economies. Together with her IMF colleagues, Sahay uses this new dataset to explore the link between gender and financial stability. She will argue that the presence of women, as well as a higher share of women, on bank boards and banking supervision agencies may contribute to greater bank stability.