Fadzlan Sufian

Assessing the Effect of Mergers and Acquisitions on Revenue Efficiency: Evidence from Malaysian Banking Sector

The article attempts to examine the effect of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) on Malaysian banks’ revenue efficiency. The data gathered in this study are divided into two event windows: the pre-merger (1995–1996) and post-merger (2002–2009) periods. The sample selected for this study comprised 34 commercial banks, including the control group of banks. We employ the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method to measure the efficiency of Malaysian banks during both the pre- and post-merger periods. The results indicate that the Malaysian banks’ revenue efficiency has not significantly improved during the post-merger compared to the pre-merger period.

Financial sector consolidation and competition in Malaysia: An application of the Panzar-Rosse method

Purpose – The purpose of the present study is to investigate the effect of consolidation on Malaysian banking sectors market structure and competition. Design/methodology/approach – The paper employs the Panzar-Rosse (P-R) method to compute the H-statistics of the Malaysian banking sector. Findings – The results from the P-R method indicate positive H-statistics ranging from 0.680-0.747 under the TREV estimation and 0.547-0.714 under the TINT estimation. The Wald ?2 test statistics seem to reject the market structure of monopoly or perfect competition hypothesis. The results clearly indicate monopolistic competition behavior in the Malaysian banking sector. During the period under study, the paper finds evidence of greater competition in the overall market segment, which is comprised of operating income from fee and commission based products compared to the traditional interest-based market. Research limitations/implications – The empirical findings from this study clearly indicate that competitive behaviour of banks may be explained by factors other than the number of banks operating in the banking sector and their levels of concentration. However, the results need to be interpreted with caution since the liberalization and deregulation of the Malaysian banking sector remains an ongoing process. Originality/value – Despite substantial studies performed to examine the impact of consolidation on banks competitive behaviour, these studies have concentrated mainly on the banking sectors of the western and developed countries. On the other hand, empirical evidence on the developing countries banking sectors is relatively scarce.

Determinants of bank profitability in developing economies: empirical evidence from the South Asian banking sectors

This study seeks to examine the performance of 77 Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, and Pakistani commercial banks between 1997 and 2008. The empirical findings suggest that bank specific characteristics – in particular, liquidity, non-interest income, credit risk, and capitalization – have positive and significant impacts on bank performance, while cost is negatively related to bank profitability. As for the impact of macroeconomic indicators, the results suggest that economic growth has positive and significant impact, while inflation has no significant impact on bank profitability. During the period under study, the empirical findings indicate that private investment is positively related to bank profitability, while private consumption expenditure exhibits negative impact. However, the impact is not uniform across the countries studied.

Navigating the Impact of Globalization on Bank Efficiency in China

The paper provides for the first time empirical evidence on the impact of economic globalization on bank efficiency in a developing economy. Using the data envelopment analysis method, we compute the efficiency of the Chinese banking sector during 2000–2007. The empirical findings suggest that the inefficiency of the Chinese banking sector stems largely from scale rather than pure technical inefficiencies. Examining different components of economic globalization, we find that greater economic integration through higher trade flows, cultural proximity and political globalization have significant and positive influence on bank efficiency levels. The empirical findings suggest that liberalization (restrictions) of the capital account exerts a negative (positive) influence on bank efficiency levels in China.

Determinants of multinational banks’ subsidiary performance: the host and home country effects

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provide new empirical evidence on the performance of multinational banks as a subset of the eclectic theory. Design/methodology/approach - The paper employs the least square method of random effects model (REM). The opportunity to use a random effects rather than a fixed effects model has been tested with the Hausman test. To control for cross-section heteroscedasticity of the variables, the study employs Whites transformation. Findings - The empirical findings indicate that credit risk, overhead costs, income from non-traditional sources, and loans intensity contribute positively to the profitability of the foreign subsidiaries. The results seem to suggest that the parent banks branch networks exert positive influence on their foreign subsidiaries in India, while the size of the parent banks negatively influences their Indian subsidiaries’ performance. Research limitations/implications - Due to its limitations, the present study could be extended in a variety of ways. First, future research could include more variables such as taxation and regulation indicators, and exchange rates as well as indicators of the quality of the offered services. Second, future studies could also examine the differences in the determinants of profitability between small and large or high and low profitability banks. Third, in terms of methodology, frontier optimization techniques such as the data envelopment analysis, the stochastic frontier analysis, and/or the Malmquist productivity index methods are recommended to examine the performance of the foreign subsidiaries of multinational banks operating in the Indian banking sector. Practical implications - Studies on the potential benefit of foreign bank entry have been studied extensively. Still, little is known about in which type of country, and under which circumstances, foreign banks have an advantage over their domestic bank peers. Furthermore, Claessens and van Horen point out that the recent financial crisis has highlighted risks associated with cross-border banking and foreign banks presence. These developments have led to greater interest among policy makers and academicians for more analyses to help guide regulatory reform. Originality/value - The empirical works concerning multinational banking have mainly focused on the determinants and methods of multinational banks entry into foreign markets. On the other hand, empirical evidence on the performance of multinational banks as a subset of the eclectic theory is scarce. By using the whole gamut of foreign subsidiaries of multinational banks operating in the Indian banking sector during the period 2000 to 2008, the paper contributes to this line of the literature.

The Nexus between Economic Freedom and Islamic Bank Profitability in the MENA Banking Sectors

The study examines the impact of economic freedom on Islamic banks’ profitability in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) banking sectors during the period 2000–2010 using dynamic panel model. The findings suggest that greater financial freedom positively influences the profitability of Islamic banks in the MENA banking sectors, implying that lower intervention in the system increases Islamic banks’ profitability. Furthermore, the larger, more diversified and better-capitalized Islamic banks are relatively more profitable, while credit risk and expenses preference behaviour negatively impact on Islamic bank profitability as expected.

Economic freedom and bank efficiency: does ownership and origins matter?

Purpose - – The paper aims to explore the impact of economic freedom on the efficiency of the Malaysian banking sector. Design/methodology/approach - – The analysis is confined into two stages. In the first stage, the bias-corrected data envelopment analysis method is used to compute the efficiency of individual banks. Then bootstrap regressions are used to examine the impact of economic freedom on bank efficiency, while controlling for the potential impacts of contextual variables. Findings - – It was found that greater freedom to start new businesses tend to impede the efficiency of banks operating in the Malaysian banking sector. The results indicate that restrictions on the activities of which banks could undertake exert negative impact on their efficiency levels. The empirical findings seem to support for official regulation and supervision of banks by setting the limits on activities which banks could undertake. In addition evidence supporting for government interventions in the foreign exchange and money markets was found. Originality/value - – The purpose of the present paper is to extend the earlier works on the performance of the banking sector in a developing economy and establish empirical evidence on the impact of economic freedom. Although empirical evidence which examines the performance of banking sectors is abundant in the literature, to the best of our knowledge, virtually nothing has been published to address the impact of economic freedom.

For which option is credit risk more representative on China banks' total factor productivity: Efficiency change or technological progress?

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provide new empirical evidence on the impact of credit risk on China banks total factor productivity. Design/methodology/approach - The paper employs the Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI) which allows for the examination of five different indices: total factor productivity change (TFPCH); technological change (TECHCH); efficiency change (EFFCH); pure technical efficiency change (PEFFCH); and scale efficiency change (SECH) indices. Findings - The empirical findings indicate that the State Owned Commercial Banks (SOCB), Joint Stock Commercial Banks (JSCB), and City Commercial Banks (CCB) have exhibited lower TFPCH levels with the inclusion of risk factor. It was found that the JSCB and CCB have exhibited lower TFPCH due to TECHCH, while the SOCB have exhibited lower TFPCH due to EFFCH. The empirical findings suggest that the inclusion of credit risk factor has resulted in a higher JSCB EFFCH levels. On the other hand, the SOCB and CCB have exhibited a lower EFFCH levels due to SECH and PEFFCH, respectively. Research limitations/implications - The results clearly highlight the importance of credit risk and lending quality in determining the total factor productivity change of banks operating in the China banking sector. The author demonstrates that the inclusion of credit risk factor has resulted in a lower TFPCH level of all banks operating in the China banking sector. Thus, excluding the credit risk factor from the analysis on the China banking sector may potentially bias the result upwards. Practical implications - In an environment of heavy government influence over the lending process, a large proportion of loans extended by Chinese banks over the years have gone bad. Policymakers should prevent the flow of new non-performing loans by separating bad clients from banks that are being restructured and recapitalized in the reform of the banking sector. Originality/value - By employing the Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI), the present paper contributes to the existing literature by examining, for the first time, the impact of credit risk on China banks total factor productivity. To the best of the authors knowledge, this type of analysis is completely missing from the literature in regard to the China banking sector.

The impact of globalization on the performance of Banks in South Africa

Purpose n n n n nThis paper aims to provide empirical evidence for the impact globalization has had on the performance of the banking sector in South Africa. In addition, this study also investigates bank-specific characteristics and macroeconomic conditions that may influence the performance of the banking sector. n n n n nDesign/methodology/approach n n n n nThe authors use data collected for all commercial banks in South Africa between 1998 and 2012. The ratio of return on assets was used to measure bank performance. They then used the dynamic panel regression with the generalized method of moments as an estimation method to investigate the potential determinants and the impact of globalization on bank performance. n n n n nFindings n n n n nPositive impact of greater economic integration and trade movements of the host country, while greater social globalization in the host country tends to exert negative influence on bank profitability. The results show that banks originating from the relatively more economically globalized countries tend to perform better, while banks headquartered in countries with greater social and political globalizations tend to exhibit lower profitability levels. n n n n nOriginality/value n n n n nAn empirical model was developed that allows for the performance of multinational banks to depend on internal and external factors. Moreover, unlike the previous studies on bank performance, in this empirical analysis, we control for the different dimensions of globalizations while taking into account the origins of the multinational banks. The procedure allows us to test for the home field, the liability of foreignness and global advantage hypotheses to deduce further insights into the prospects of banking across borders.

Country governance and the performance of Islamic and conventional banks: international evidence

The impact of corporate governance on banking firms has been widely documented in the literature. Noticeably absent is an extensive examination of the impact of country governance on the efficiency of banking firms. This limitation is surprising, given the fact that the banking sector remains the most important channel for savings and allocations of credit in the economy. By using data on 454 Islamic and conventional banks from 19 countries offering Islamic banking and finance products and services, this chapter attempts to fill this demanding gap. We find that voice and accountability positively influence the efficiency of both Islamic and conventional banks. On the other hand, we observe the negative impact of political stability, absence of violence and control of corruption. The findings indicate that government effectiveness, regulatory quality and rule of law negatively influence the efficiency of conventional banks, but not so in the case of Islamic banks.