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Companies with gender-diverse boards have higher credit ratings, Moody's finds

Companies with more gender-diverse boards tend to have higher credit ratings, a Moody's research revealed.

The research, which analyzed 1,109 listed North American companies, said women comprise an average of 28% of the boards in the five firms that Moody's rates Aaa and 25% of the boards in those rated Baa1 or higher. Meanwhile, companies with Ca ratings have only 5% gender diversity in their boards.

"However, we don't view this correlation as causational," said Atsi Sheth, managing director at Moody's, adding that there could be other indicators to determine "why boards of higher-rated companies have greater gender diversity."

Women hold 2,361 of the 11,085 board positions across the analyzed companies, the research said.

Nearly 25% of the executive positions in Aaa-rated companies are also filled by women, while Ca-rated companies only have about 10% diversity in C-level posts, Moody's added.

California requires publicly listed companies based in the state to have at least one female board member by 2019, and 50% women in six-member boards by 2021. However, the rating agency believes that the trend will not spread across the U.S. any time in the near future.