Cross-Country Nonparametric Analysis of Bahrains Banking System

Abstract

Bahrains financial sector development strategy succeeded in building a leading regional banking center, which has become one of the main engines of growth and sources of employment. Based on bank level productivity estimates obtained using non-parametric estimation, the paper concludes that Bahrain continues to occupy a front-runner position among sample GCC countries. Results also reveal that: (i) banks in Bahrain still lag behind their Singaporean counterparts (included in the study as a benchmark), and (ii) there is strong competition from other countries in the region. The results appear to be robust with respect to changes in the sample size and model specifications.