Impact of board characteristics on bank risk: The case of Vietnam

Abstract

The research identifies hypotheses evaluating the impact of board characteristics on the risk of the commercial bank as well as examining the determinants of bank risk in Vietnam over a 10-year period, starting from 2008. Also, in this research, the differences between the roles of women and men in decision-making are tested. Based on this decision, risks of the banks may arise. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression, Random effect method, and Fixed effect method are used to estimate the factors that have an impact on bank risk for dataset of all commercial banks in Vietnam. The results found that equity-to-asset ratio, bank performance and the economic growth have an inverse relationship with bank risk, while the size of bank has a positive relationship with the bank risk. One of the highlights of this paper is a demonstration of the relationship between CEO's gender and bank risk. The test result shows that the bank led by a female faces a higher overall risk level and credit risk than a bank led by a male. Based on this result, the paper also makes recommendations to Government, the State Bank of Vietnam and the commercial banks for effective risk management.