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Washington (dpa) - A study issued Friday found that most of the world's biggest banks have at least one woman on their boards of directors, though only one in 10 of those board seats are held by women.
The paper issued by Washington-based Corporate Women Directors International said that 70 per cent of the 50 largest global banks have women among their board members.
In the United States, 90 per cent of the 100 largest banks have at least one woman director. Despite the higher figures compared to international banking giants, only 12 per cent of the board seats at those U.S. banks are held by women.
Among the world's 10 largest global banks, as measured by assets, Nordea Group of Sweden is the leader with four women among 11 directors (36 per cent).
The leader among the 10 largest U.S. banks, Golden West Financial Corp. with five women among its nine-member board (56 per cent), is one of only two U.S. companies with a majority of women directors, according to the group.
The three Chinese companies among the top 50 global banks average 21 per cent women members on their boards of directors.
Six Japanese banks among the top 50 have no women on their boards of directors.
The world's largest bank, Swiss-based UBS, has no women on its board of directors.
Copyright 2005 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
