Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of board gender diversity on bond terms and bondholders’ returns.Design/methodology/approach: The authors perform pooled OLS regression, simultaneous regressions and propensity score matching to a panel data set of bond data for 319 US firms from 2007 to 2014.Findings: The authors find that firms with gender-diverse boards have lower yields, higher ratings, larger issue size and shorter maturity. They also find that bondholders require fewer returns from firms with gender-diverse boards. However, the effect is more pronounced when women, constitutes at least 29.67 percent of the board.Originality/value: This analysis supplements the findings that board gender diversity is essential for bondholders. It shows that bondholders should look at board gender diversity as a criterion to invest because bonds issued by firms with gender-diverse board have less risk. For practitioners, this study shows that more women participation on boards leads to a reduction in borrowing costs.

Purpose: Using data from 62 countries, I present empirical evidence of the impact of societal trust on the capital structure for microfinance institutions. Design/methodology/approach: The study uses fixed-effect models, instrumental variable analysis, propensity score matching and mediating analysis. Findings: Societal trust is positively associated with private debt for microfinance institutions (MFIs). One standard deviation increase in trust leads to a 9.72% rise in private debt financing. The legal status of the MFIs, board gender diversity and average loan size moderate the relationship, while monitoring costs mediate it. Research limitations/implications: To the best of my knowledge, this is the first study to document the impact of societal trust on the capital structure in the microfinance industry. The study’s main limitation is that MFI data coverage is limited to 2018. Originality/value: My findings reveal a novel insight: despite the difference in capital structure in the microfinance sector, societal trust is still a driver of private debt.