Tahmid, Tahani, Sadia Binte Shafiq, Md. Yousuf, Peter Wanke, Md. Abul Kalam Azad. (2024). Are Women Gold- dust for Asian Banks? Examining the Impact of Gender Diversity on Asian Banks’ Performance and Risk. Journal of International Business and Economic Affairs, 1(1), 6–26. https://epe.lac- bac.gc.ca/100/201/300/jrn_intl_business_econ_aff/index.html Are Women Gold-dust for Asian Banks? Examining the Impact of Gender Diversity on Asian Banks’ Performance and Risk Tahani TAHMID Business Statistics, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States, Email: ttahmid@email.sc.edu Sadia Binte SHAFIQ Department of Business and Technology Management, Islamic University of Technology, Gazipur 1704, Bangladesh, Email: sadia@iut-dhaka.edu Md. YOUSUF Deputy Director, Chief Economist's Unit, Bangladesh Bank, Head Office, BANGLADESH, Email: md.yousuf@bb.org.bd Peter WANKE Business Analytics and Economics Research Unit - COPPEAD Graduate Business School, Brazil, Email: peter@coppead.ufrj.br Md. Abul Kalam AZAD (corresponding author) Department of Business and Technology Management, Islamic University of Technology, Gazipur, BANGLADESH, Email: kalam@iut-dhaka.edu Abstract Gender diversity on board has been an important topic of discussion since the beginning. The question remains how gender diversity can affect bank performance and risk. Only a few studies have examined this in Asian context. This study examines the impact of board gender diversity on bank performance and risk in context of Asian banks. This study comprises a 15-year panel data set consisting of the year 2008 to 2022 of 180 listed banks operating in 28 countries in Asia. For bank performance, ROA and ROE has been used as dependent variables and for bank risk, Z-score for ROA and ROE has been calculated to be used as dependent variable. Contrary to most findings our result suggests that gender diversity on bank board has a negative effect on Asian banks’ profitability and it positively affects banks’ Z‐score. The results of this study can be helpful to managers and policymakers of Asian banks in fruitfully utilizing the advantages that gender diversity on boards has to offer, while also acknowledging its limitations and taking them into account for future reforms. Keywords: Gender diversity; bank performance; bank risk; Asian banks. 9