Banks with more women on board better managed – Emefiele

The Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) has claimed that financial institutions with more women on their boards and in top management are generally better managed.
Governor of the regulatory bank Godwin Emefiele, who spoke at the CBN celebration of the International Women’s Day, in Abuja, Tuesday, noted that banks with more women at the top had higher capital buffers.
Quoting the reports of a 2018 International Monetary Fund (IMF), Emefiele said that narrowing the “gender gap in leadership does make a difference when it comes to bank stability. Banks with higher proportion of women board members had higher capital buffers, a lower ratio of nonperforming loans, and greater resistance to stress.
“Greater inclusion of women as users, providers, and regulators of financial services have benefits beyond addressing gender inequality.
“Narrowing the gender gap would foster greater stability in the banking system and enhance economic growth. It could also contribute to more effective monetary and fiscal policy.”
He also made reference to the position of Christine Lagarde, the IMF Managing Director, that if banks and financial supervisors increased the share of women in senior positions, the banking sector would be more stable.
Emefiele disclosed that the regulator bank had made great strides in addressing gender disparities in the organisation.
Actions, he noted has been taken by the bank to advance equality in the workplace included “training and skills development, increased employment and leadership positions for women, diversity and inclusion initiatives, supporting female employees to balance work and family life (through childcare support, extended maternity leave etc), coaching and mentoring programme to increase knowledge and skills that are necessary for achieving our organizational goals and objectives”
He said women occupy 29 percent of CBN staff strength while 29 percent of Directors of the bank are women.
Emefiele added that 8 Departmental Directors were women, while 3 out of 11 board members were women. He said that in recognition of their enormous contributions of to economic growth either as business owners, entrepreneurs, farmers or employees of businesses, 60 percent of the multi-billion Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Fund had been earmarked for women.