Do bank boards matter? A literature review on the characteristics of banks' Board of Directors

Corporate governance of banks is important and unique (Levine, 2004). Sound bank corporate governance is a crucial element for promoting a more resilient financial system (FSB, 2013) and sustaining economic growth (BCBS, 2015). A systematic literature review is conducted on the articles published in peer-reviewed academic journals to identify the prevailing results in academic research on bank board characteristics, which is the most investigated topic in bank corporate governance. Based on both theoretical and empirical contributions, findings show that research mainly measures the impact of board characteristics on performance and risks potentially faced by banks, however there is no univocal consensus on the best practices to adopt. Further research is needed to directly investigate other areas of bank corporate governance (such as internal risk management, remuneration and ownership structure).