Impact of Board of Directors on Performance of Brazilian Banks

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to verify if the performance of Brazilian banks was impacted by the characteristics of their boards of directors in the period from 2010 to 2016. Performance indicators were defined as the Return on Assets (ROA) and Return on Equity (ROE) indicators, widely used in bank surveys. To accomplish the objective, a sample of twenty-nine financial institutions registered at the Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) was selected. Results showed that the variables representing the influences exerted by the board include the number of directors and percentage of female members is significant to explain Return on Assets (ROA), while the variables average age of the directors, the percentage of independent directors, and segregation of the functions of chairman and chief executive officer, are significant in explaining Return on Equity (ROE).