An empirical analysis of the determinants of the U.S. banks’ profitability

This study investigates the determinants of the profitability of U.S. banks. Employing quarterly data, this paper further examines the historical and recent trends for all U.S. banks from 1996 to 2019 in the relationship between return and assets (ROA) and other bank internal (or endogenous) profitability contributors such as net interest margin (NIM), loan loss reserves, ratio of non-performing loans to gross loans, and external (or exogenous) macroeconomic variables, such as the 30-year average mortgage rate, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) economic growth rate, unemployment rate, interest rate, inflation rate and openness (i.e., exports + imports/GDP) by using the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimator technique. The results reveal that bank-specific variables, including net interest margin, loan loss reserves and non-performing loans, have a significant impact on bank profitability in the United States. Similarly, the results show that macroeconomic variables, namely the average mortgage rate, economic growth, and unemployment rate, exert significant effects on the U.S. banks’ profitability. The results further indicate that changes in openness are detrimental to bank profitability. The implications are discussed.

The Effect of the Paycheck Protection Program and Financial Reporting Standards on Bank Risk-Taking

This paper examines the consequences of the paycheck protection program (PPP) for bank risk-taking and whether the shift to the current expected credit loss (CECL) model moderates this effect. We find that the extent of a bank’s PPP participation is associated with relatively greater changes in risk-taking outside of the PPP. We also show that this effect is concentrated in banks that have not early adopted the CECL model and banks with timelier pre-PPP loan loss provisions, suggesting that timelier loan loss recognition constrains risk-taking incentives. Overall, our findings provide insight into the indirect consequences of government stimulus programs administered through banks and the role of accounting in constraining bank risk-taking. This paper was accepted by Suraj Srinivasan, accounting.

Can corporate governance mechanisms reduce earnings-management practices in Islamic banks?

Purpose This study aims to provide empirical evidence on the role of corporate governance mechanisms in reducing earnings-management practices in Islamic banks in Asia. Design/methodology/approach This study used 28 Islamic banks in Asia, which were listed on the stock exchange from 2013–2017. The research method used quantitative regression with data on the characteristics of Islamic banks taken from the websites of each bank. This study used discretionary loan loss provision as a proxy for measuring earnings management. Findings The results show that only the audit committee size has a significantly negative effect on earnings management. An independent audit committee has a negative, but not significant, effect. The difference expectation signs cannot be interpreted further. Research limitations/implications Only a few components of corporate governance were tested in this study. Therefore, it is expected that future studies will include more components. Practical implications In general, the components of corporate governance that include the characteristics of the board of directors and the audit committee have a varied effect on reducing the earnings-management practices in Islamic banks, except audit committee size. In practice, audit committee size should have an important role in earning management reduces. Originality/value This may be the first paper that studies the effect of corporate governance on earnings management in Islamic banks in Asia.

Analysis of Credit Risk, Intellectual Capital and Financial Performance of Listed Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria

This paper examined the effects of credit risk, intellectual capital as well as credit risk moderated by intellectual capital on financial performance of fifteen listed deposit money banks in Nigeria (DMBs) from 2007 to 2016. Data were sourced from annual reports of banks and Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics and analysed using Generalised Method of Moments (GMM). The study finds that credit risk index by loan loss ratio negatively affects financial performance of the sampled banks; while capital employed efficiency, loan loss provision moderated by intellectual capital, capital adequacy ratio, income and diversification have positive relationship with banks’ financial performance. Thus, the study recommends that banks should strengthen their credit risk management culture to ensure prompt repayment of loans. The banks should operate within the required capital adequacy ratio to serve as buffer against loan loss provisions provided by the Central Bank of Nigeria. A strong credit risk management culture should be embedded within intellectual capital structure of banks, where all persons at all levels appreciate and understand the banks’ risk management policies as well as strategies and incorporate same into decision-making and business processes.

The Role of Non-performing Loans for Bank Lending Rates

Based on bank level data from the euro area, I investigate the role of non-performing loans (NPLs) for lending rates on newly granted loans. The focus is on an effect caused by the stock of NPLs that extends beyond losses that banks have already incorporated into their reported capital positions. The paper assesses the channels through which such an effect occurs. The results indicate that a higher stock of NPLs is associated with higher lending rates. This relation is driven by net NPLs, which constitute the part of NPLs that is not covered by loan loss reserves. Although the stock of NPLs affects banks’ idiosyncratic funding costs as well, the latter do not seem to constitute an important link between the stock of net NPLs and lending behaviour. This is because the relation between idiosyncratic funding costs and lending rates turns out to be rather weak. Furthermore, NPLs do not strongly affect the banks’ interest rate pass-through.

Banking sector Performance Evaluation in Ethiopia for the Period of Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP-II): Private vs. Public Commercial Banks

The main objective of this study was to evaluate and compare the financial performance of commercial banks in Ethiopia during the implementation of growth and transformation plan II. Moreover, determinants of financial performance were examined. The study was conducted using secondary data obtained from National Bank of Ethiopia, and official website of each commercial bank. Multiple panel regression and independent sample t-test were used to show the relationship and to compare the financial performance of commercial banks between the study periods. The ratio of non-interest expenses to total expense, log_net profit per employee, interest income to total income, and exchange rate were variables with positive and significant effect on the financial performance of commercial banks while log_total loans per branch and inflation affected negatively the financial performance measured by return on assets. Whereas, the ratio of debt to equity, log_net profit per employee, total liquid assets to total deposits, interest income to total income, and exchange rate have positive and significant impact while the ratio of loan loss provision to total loan, log_total loans per branch, and inflation negatively and significantly affected financial performance measured by ROE. The independent sample t-test shows that except the ratio of total loans to total deposits, and total capital to total assets the remaining variables did not show significant different between state and public owned banks.JEL classification: M14 M4 M1

Investigating into the dual role of loan loss reserves in banking production process

This paper considers the use of loan loss reserves (LLRs) in the banking production process and treats it as one variable with a dual role. We establish a three-stage network Data Envelopment Analysis model to address this issue. Using a sample of 43 Chinese commercial banks over the period 2011–2019, the results show that the banks with the ratio between LLRs and total loans less than 1% have higher level of efficiency compared to the ones holding the ratio greater than 1%. The results show that when excluding LLRs in the production process, the efficiency scores are significantly inflated. We find that small and medium sized banks are more efficient than their big counterparts, however, the results show that big banks hold more than enough amounts of LLRs than the one required by the regulatory authority. When LLRs are excluded from the production process, it shows that big banks perform better than small and medium sized banks. Our findings show that less liquid banks perform better than the ones with higher levels of liquidity no matter in which way LLRs are treated. Finally, we find that lower capitalized banks, compared to the ones with high levels of capitalization, are less efficient. however, it shows that higher capitalized banks consistently keep more than 1% LLRs out of total loans.

FACTORS SHAPING CAPITAL STRUCTURE: EVIDENCE FROM PRIVATE COMMERCIAL BANKS IN BANGLADESH

This study investigates how various determinants shape the capital structure of commercial banks in Bangladesh, employing panel data, structured from available secondary sources, covering 22 banks as samples from 61 scheduled banks for the period of 2011 to 2020, conducting Feasible Generalized Least Squared (FGLS) Regression Model. Several diagnostic tests have been conducted to ensure the robustness and stability of the model. The study results reveal that return on assets, earnings per share, asset growth, asset structure, investment structure, cost per loan assets, and loan loss provisioning considerably influence the capital structure or the leverage of commercial banks. On the contrary, the authors find no explicit evidence that bank size, liquidity, capital adequacy, and non-performing loan ratio have significant impacts on the capital structure of the banking industry of Bangladesh. The findings of this study advocate that return on assets, earnings per share, asset structure, and cost per loan assets as the dominant explanatory factors of capital structure. Besides, asset growth, investment structure, and loan loss provisioning affect less significantly on determining the capital structure of the banking industry. This study also brings the academicians, researchers, and analysts with corroborating new routes for exploring further research in this field.

Revisiting earnings quality and bank efficiency among East African developing economies: do systemic banking and financial crises matter?

PurposeIn this paper, the authors investigate whether the systemic local banking crises (LBCs) and global financial crisis (GFC) impact the association between bank profit efficiency and earnings quality in developing economies.Design/methodology/approachUsing panel data spanning 29 years over the period 1991–2019 for 169 banks drawn from five East African countries, the authors perform difference-in-difference multivariate analyses using the generalised method of moments (GMM) system estimator on a sample consisting of 2,261 bank-year observations.FindingsThe results, which are robust for endogeneity and other checks, show that banks with higher profit efficiency consistently report higher quality earnings. The authors further establish that whereas systemic LBCs contribute negatively to bank earnings quality, the GFC tends to have a positive impact. These results are upheld when the joint impacts of both systemic LBCs, GFC and profit efficiency on earnings quality are considered. The positive influence of profit efficiency and GFC on earnings quality is pronounced under income-decreasing earnings management. The impacts of profit efficiency, LBCs and GFC on earnings quality appear to be non-monotonic and vary across the sampled countries.Research limitations/implicationsThe study's findings are based on banks in five developing countries within a regional economic bloc. Additional studies could focus on other economic blocs for enhanced generalisability of the findings. In addition, some of the variables examined are studied at bank-level, while other variables are at country-level. Finally, the study establishes an association between the variables of interest, and this does not necessarily imply causation.Practical implicationsThe results provide useful insights to bank regulatory and supervisory agencies on the need to exercise increased risk-based scrutiny over bank loan loss provisioning and minimum loan loss reserve requirements. From an audit perspective, auditors need to be cautious and apply an enhanced risk-based audit especially when auditing banks during and after a financial, banking or systemic crisis. Credit rating agencies need to pay closer attention to the LLPs of distressed banks. Finally, bank investors and customers should be cautious when using bank financial statements, since bank managers of poorly performing banks might engage in aggressive earnings management.Originality/valueThe study is perhaps the first to examine the joint effects of systemic LBCs on the association between bank profit efficiency and the quality of earnings in a larger dataset of banks in a developing regional economic bloc. The authors also employ the GMM system estimator in the modelling, which helps address some weaknesses in prior studies.