Governance and performance of banks in Brazil

Abstract

The aim of this work is to analyze the relation between governance, ownership structure and performance of banks in Brazil. This work contributes to the literature, because there are only a few studies about governance of financial institutions in emerging markets. Our results indicate that banks with good governance have higher performance and lower administrative expenses. Contrary to the international literature, we find that, in Brazil, foreign banks have worse performance and higher administrative expenses, whereas State-owned banks have better performance and lower expenses.