Board Gender Diversity Impact on Investment Efficiency in Nigerian Deposit Money Banks

The corporate governance (CG) research extensively documents the significance of board of directors, given its pivotal position in strategic decision-making. Women's traits, like reduced overconfidence, effective monitoring, and risk aversion, contribute to diversity and transparency in CG through the representation of diverse genders on boards. Hence, this study examined board gender diversity (BGD) impact on investment efficiency (IE) among Nigerian Deposit Money Banks (NDMBs). The study adopted an <i>expo facto</i> research design. Secondary data were collected for this study from the Annual Reports of the selected banks. The population for the study comprised 23 NDMBs on the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) from 2012 to 2021. A total of 10 NDMBs were purposively chosen based on data accessibility during the study period. The base year, 2012 was adopted because it marked the period listed banks adopted International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Data collected were analyzed using multiple regressions, as the inferential. The results showed that variable of returns on assets (ROA) had a coefficient value of 1.1620 which is statistically significant (p-value = 0.0110), firm size (SIZE) (coefficient = 0.0281 and probability =0.9920), firm age (AGE) with coefficient value of 1.7121 and probability value of 0.6945, BGD had a coefficient value of 0.0394 on investment efficiency of NDMBs which is statistically significant (p-value = 0.0087), and risk (coefficient = 0.0704 and probability = 0.0279). The study recommends that banks should ensure that their risk-taking is measured and controlled to avoid excessive risk-taking, which can lead to financial instability. Banks should also ensure that their risk management practices are robust and effective. Also, banks should strive to improve their gender diversity at the board level to improve their investment efficiency. The study concluded that BGD enhanced changes in the level of investment efficiency of NDMBs.