Does Gender Enter into the Non-Performing Loans’ Management?

In recent years several routes have been entered to face the existing discrimination in the access to credit between male and female. In this framework, the initiatives undertaken by the United Nations and the national governments have shown growing attention in order to alleviate the gender gap in various economic sectors. Among those, the non-performing loan one, given the recent economic and pandemic crises, is registering a fast increase. The objective of this work is to examine if and how gender is considered among the evaluation criteria of non-performing loans (NPLs) portfolios. An inductive content analysis has been carried out on 30 documents relating to NPLs. Specifically, the sample is made up of official publications and reports published on the websites of European and National Institutions, supervisory authorities, main banks groups, specialized sectorial consultancies and leading servicers. The analysis of the documents shows that, at present, gender is not particularly taken into consideration when banks and servicers illustrate their NPLs portfolio. On the contrary, it is possible to find classifications based on other variables (e.g. geographical position, business sector or presence of guarantees). Therefore, it is possible to conclude that gender – so far - does not appear to be an element that is considered when discussing the management of NPLs. This work is the first part of broader empirical research intended to open a debate about the relevance of the gender factor in the management of NPLs. In fact, while the gender variable seems to be taken into account as an element for granting credit, it is not considered for its management.