The Determinants of Cost/Profit Efficiency of Islamic Banks Before, During and After the Subprime Crisis Using SFA Approach

Abstract

In this paper we estimate the determinants of cost and profit efficiency of Islamic banks using the stochastic frontier approach SFA. We use 62 Islamic banks in sixteen countries of the MENA and South-East Asia regions during the period 2004-2010. We compare the efficiency between Islamic banks during the subprime crisis phases. Moreover, we examine the variables specific to the banks which can explain the sources of inefficiency and those let us decline the scores of cost and profit efficiency on a specific number of variables (total assets, capital adequacy, profitability, credit risk, operational costs). Results reveal that, Islamic banks in our study are more efficient in the generation of the profits rather than in the control of the costs. Thus, only the total assets and the operational costs represent the determinants of cost efficiency of the Islamic banks. Finally, for the profit efficiency our results indicate that the Islamic banks with high equities and high ratio of profitability are efficient in terms of profit.