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Women account for just 10.3 percent of board seats in the Top 50 Global banks and China outpaced US in this field, while women comprised 65 percent of bank employees, according to a new study from Corporate Women Directors International on Friday.

China outpacing the US with combined female board participation of 20.6 percent compared to 17.3 percent for the US banks ranked in the Top Global 50. The study also looks at the Top 100 US banks, where women do not fare any better with 12.2 percent representation, according to the report.

A pacesetter among all American banks, Golden West Financial Corp. has a majority of women on its board (5 out of 9 directors), ranking number one on CWDI's Top Ten list of US banks with the highest percentage of womendirectors. The world's largest bank UBS currently doesn't have a single female board member. So does six Japanese and two Italian banks on the Top Global 50 list.

"Women comprise one of the largest market segments for banks worldwide, and that market is growing," said Irene Natividad, co- chair of CWDI," sadly that commitment is not reflected in the boardroom of many banks."

With women comprising 65 percent of bank employees and 49 percent of officials and managers in commercial banking, only 15.2 percent of senior bank officers are women.