G38 - Corporate Finance and Governance: Government Policy and RegulationReturn

The clarion call for reform in bank regulation that ensures sound financial system and better performance following the financial melt-down of 2007–2009 across the globe has made it necessary to identify reforms that ensure these objectives are achieved. Using the most recent Banking Regulation and Supervision Survey of the World Bank and showing through empirical evidence, this paper adds to recent literature on the assessment of the impact of bank regulation on the profitability of banks across the globe. An Orbis financial database for 7535 banks observations in 114 countries over the period 2011–2018 is used for this study. The study shows that stringent capital requirement has positive and very significant impact on bank profitability. Same result is reported for Accounting/Information disclosure implying that regulations that strictly enforce information disclosure by banks to stakeholders eventually impacts positively on profitability. However, regulation on discipline/Problem institutions/exit has very significant and negative impact on bank profitability. Finally, the study again shows through the  results that restriction on banking activities has positive impact on bank profitability though not significant just as expected.

The objective of the study was in two parts; first, to construct an overall risk index to ascertain risk level of banks listed on Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), second, to ascertain whether there is a significant relationship between risk management and bank performance. Secondary data of all listed banks on GSE over the period 2007-2014 was used and a panel regression data approach and a risk index were constructed for all listed banks. Findings show that, banks listed on Ghana Stock Exchange have declining risk indexes on average over the latter part of the study period indicating that the Ghanaian Banking Regulator may have to impose additional prudential and regulatory requirements to ensure banks remain solvent. We also find evidence that risk management is positively related to performance of GSE listed banks when the latter is measured from ROE perspective.