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Bank ownership and performance in the Middle East and North Africa region

Author

Listed:
  • Farazi, Subika
  • Feyen, Erik
  • Rocha, Roberto

Abstract

Although both domestic and foreign private banks have gained ground in MENA in recent years, state banks continue to play an important role in many countries. Using a MENA bank-level panel dataset for the period 2001-08, the paper contributes to the empirical literature by documenting recent ownership trends and assessing the role of ownership and bank performance in MENA while accounting for key bank characteristics such as size and balance sheet composition. The paper analyzes headline performance indicators as well as their key drivers and finds that state banks exhibit significantly weaker performance, despite their larger size. This result is mainly driven by a larger holding of government securities, higher costs due to larger staffing numbers, and larger loan loss provisions reflecting weaker asset quality. The results reflect both operational inefficiencies and policy mandates. The paper also provides a detailed performance analysis of foreign and listed banks. Foreign banks are fairly new in MENA, yet perform on par with domestic banks despite their smaller size and higher investment costs. Listed banks exhibit superior performance driven by higher interest margins even in the face of higher costs associated with listing. Taken together, the results do not reject the development role for state banks, but do show that their intervention comes at a cost. As such, there is scope to reduce the share of state banks in some countries and to clarify the mandates, improve the governance, and strengthen the operational efficiency of most state banks in MENA.

Suggested Citation

  • Farazi, Subika & Feyen, Erik & Rocha, Roberto, 2011. "Bank ownership and performance in the Middle East and North Africa region," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5620, The World Bank.
  • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5620
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Caporale, Guglielmo Maria & Lodh, Suman & Nandy, Monomita, 2017. "The performance of banks in the MENA region during the global financial crisis," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 583-590.
    2. Adolfo Barajas & Ralph Chami & Seyed Reza Yousefi, 2016. "The Finance and Growth Nexus Re-Examined: Do All Countries Benefit Equally?," Journal of Banking and Financial Economics, University of Warsaw, Faculty of Management, vol. 1(5), pages 5-38, June.
    3. Mateev, Miroslav & Moudud-Ul-Huq, Syed & Sahyouni, Ahmad & Tariq, Muhammad Usman, 2022. "Capital regulation, competition and risk-taking: Policy implications for banking sector stability in the MENA region," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    4. Moath Ghaleb Al-Azzam & Ghada Tayem, 2023. "How Does Bank Competition Affect Banking Stability? The Case of an Emerging Market," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 17(3), pages 1-62, February.
    5. Michael, Bryane & Apostoloski, Nenad, 2012. "The Middle Eastern Wealth Management Industry: Boon or Bust?," MPRA Paper 52069, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Alqahtani, Faisal & Mayes, David G. & Brown, Kym, 2017. "Reprint of Economic turmoil and Islamic banking: Evidence from the Gulf Cooperation Council," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 113-125.
    7. Alraheb, Tammuz H. & Nicolas, Christina & Tarazi, Amine, 2019. "Institutional environment and bank capital ratios," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 1-24.
    8. Achraf Haddad, 2022. "Effect of board quality on the financial performance of conventional and Islamic banks: international comparative study after the Subprime crisis," Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 13(2), pages 399-449, June.
    9. Omneya Abdelsalam & Marwa Elnahass & Sabur Mollah, 2018. "Asset Securitization and Bank risk: Do Religiosity or Ownership Structure Matter?," Working Papers 2018-17, Swansea University, School of Management.
    10. Ghosh, Saibal, 2019. "Loan delinquency in banking systems: How effective are credit reporting systems?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 220-236.
    11. Achraf Haddad & Anis El Ammari & Abdelfattah Bouri, 2021. "Impact of Audit Committee Quality on the Financial Performance of Conventional and Islamic Banks," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-24, April.
    12. Haque, Faizul & Brown, Kym, 2017. "Bank ownership, regulation and efficiency: Perspectives from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 273-293.
    13. Faisul Haque, 2014. "The Impact of Ownership and Regulations on Bank Risk-Taking: Evidence from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region," CFI Discussion Papers 1402, Centre for Finance and Investment, Heriot Watt University.
    14. Saibal Ghosh, 2016. "Foreign banks in MENA countries: how important? How relevant?," Journal of Economic and Administrative Sciences, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 32(1), pages 77-98, May.
    15. Piotr Kozarzewski & Richard Woodward & Mehdi Safavi, 2012. "Background Report on Private Sector Development in Latin America, the Post-Communist Countries of Europe and Asia, the Middle East and North Africa," CASE Network Studies and Analyses 434, CASE-Center for Social and Economic Research.
    16. Miroslav Mateev & Ahmad Sahyouni & Muhammad Usman Tariq, 2023. "Bank regulation, ownership and risk taking behavior in the MENA region: policy implications for banks in emerging economies," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 287-338, January.
    17. Alqahtani, Faisal & Mayes, David G. & Brown, Kym, 2016. "Economic turmoil and Islamic banking: Evidence from the Gulf Cooperation Council," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 44-56.
    18. World Bank, 2017. "Towards Privilege-Resistant Economic Policies in MENA," World Bank Publications - Reports 27525, The World Bank Group.
    19. Mateev, Miroslav & Nasr, Tarek & Sahyouni, Ahmad, 2022. "Capital regulation, market power and bank risk-taking in the MENA region: New evidence for Islamic and conventional banks," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 134-155.
    20. Omneya Abdelsalam & Sabur Mollah & Emili Tortosa-Ausina, 2018. "Political connection and bank in(efficiency)," Working Papers 2018-11, Swansea University, School of Management.
    21. Ebrahimi, Sajad & Ebrahimnejad, Ali & Rastad, Mahdi, 2023. "Number of creditors and the real effects of credit supply disruptions," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    22. Alqahtani, Faisal & Mayes, David G. & Brown, Kym, 2017. "Islamic bank efficiency compared to conventional banks during the global crisis in the GCC region," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 58-74.

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    Keywords

    Banks&Banking Reform; Access to Finance; Debt Markets; Corporate Law; Bankruptcy and Resolution of Financial Distress;
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