KUALA LUMPUR: Extensive evidence indicates companies with strong female representation at board and top management level perform better than those with fewer or no women directors.
According to Asian Institute of Finance (AIF) chief executive officer Dr Raymond Madden, studies have proven that gender equality results in stronger financial performance for companies.
“For example, the Credit Suisse Research Institute reported that net income growth over the past six years averaged 14 per cent for companies with women directors compared to 10 per cent for those with no female board members,” he said at the AIF Strategic Round Table discussion on women in the financial services industry here yesterday.
Madden said the study also reported that companies with one or more women on the board demonstrate superior share-price performance: specifically, stocks of companies with at least one woman on the board outperformed those without by 26 per cent.
Meanwhile, studies by McKinsey on “Women Matter” make a strong case for gender diversity, with the report suggesting that companies where women are most strongly represented at board or top management level are also the companies that perform better.
A report from Catalyst, a research group focused on women’s advancement in senior leadership roles, found that Fortune 500 companies, on average, outperformed those with fewer women board members on a broad range of financial indicators.
“In Malaysia, while women have now surpassed men at many levels of education, their skills, talents, leadership abilities and experience often remain untapped,” he added.
Women in Malaysia hold a mere 7.6 per cent of senior positions in the largest 200 companies listed on Bursa, and according to AIF’s analysis, only 1.6 per cent of women hold senior positions in investment banking.
Madden said AIF recently conducted a study on the potential brain drain in the financial services industry in Malaysia.
Findings from the survey of 2,400 finance professionals in Malaysia suggest that there is no evidence of a glass ceiling for career advancement in the financial industry.
Attended by more than 100 professionals involved in the financial industry, the forum featured Ambank Group managing director of corporate & institutional banking, Pushpa Rajadurai; Maybank Group senior executive vice president & head of group human capital, Nora Abd Manaf; Iclif Leadership and Governance Centre faculty member, Kate Sweetman; and Hong Leong Islamic Bank managing director and chief executive officer, Raja Teh Maimunah, as speakers.
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