Board oversight and financial performance of islamic banks in Arab and non-Arab countries

Abstract

This study analyzes the impact of corporate governance (CG) practices and Shariah Supervisory Board (SSB) on the financial performance of Islamic banks (IB). A sample of 20 Islamic banks from Arab and Non-Arab countries i.e. Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Pakistan and Malaysia were used. A CG-index was adopted from the literature which comprises of three sub-indices including Board of Directors (BOD), Audit Committee (AC) and Shariah Supervisory Board (SSB). The dataset covers the period from 2012 to 2018. The panel data regression technique was used for data analysis. The descriptive statistics suggest that the average score for CG-index is 76% which indicates that Islamic banks reasonably adhere to CG regulations. The panel regression results suggest an insignificant relationship between (1) CG and IB’s financial performance and (2) BOD and IB’s financial performance. These findings are consistent with earlier studies conducted on Arab countries. Moreover, the results also suggest that SSB and AC contribute positively towards asset performance but negatively towards equity performance. Policymakers should revisit the CG regulations in their countries to make them more influential towards the performance of Islamic banks.