Abstract: The study aims to bring forth evidence of the link among various board characteristics with the financial performance of Islamic banks and conventional banks operating within GCC markets. The sample consists of 97 banks with the panel data spanning for 10 years from 2010 to 2019. The data for all variables has been obtained from Thomson Reuters DataStream. Non-financial sector firms have been excluded, as every sector has a different set of regulations and operating activities. The sample is observed as subsamples of Islamic banks and conventional in GCC. The Pooled Ordinary Least Squares model is used for the data sample. Findings of the Islamic subsample reveal a significant positive relationship between board size and board meetings on the financial performance of Islamic banks in the GCC context. On the other hand, the independent board members, inflation, and GDP are reported to have a negative effect on the financial performance. The female board members and bank size effect is not significant. As for the conventional subsample, the board size, board meetings and independent board members were found to have a negative effect on the financial performance in the GCC conventional banks context. Similarly, the female board members, bank size, and GDP have a negative but insignificant impact on the financial performance. These results contribute to the understanding of the board characteristics' influence on the financial performance of Islamic and conventional financial firms in the GCC region. Keywords: Corporate Governance, Board Characteristics, GCC, Islamic Banks, Financial Firms, Financial Performance