The internal and external determinants of the intermediation margin of banks across MENA countries

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to conduct a comparative analysis of internal and external determinants of bank’s performance in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use a static unbalanced annual panel data of banks operating in eight countries pertaining to the MENA region (Tunisia, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Lebanon, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates) over the period from 1999 to 2014.

Findings

The findings reveal that the determinants of intermediation margins in the MENA region differ across countries. Overall, banks interest margins are explained by both bank-specific variables and macroeconomic factors except for Saudi Arabia in which interest margins exclusively depend on bank-specific factors.

Originality/value

These findings contribute to the clarification and critical analysis of the current state of bank’s performance in some countries located in MENA region, which would have several crucial policy implications.

Citation

Talbi, D. and Bougatef, K. (2018), "The internal and external determinants of the intermediation margin of banks across MENA countries", EuroMed Journal of Business, Vol. 13 No. 3, pp. 280-290. https://doi.org/10.1108/EMJB-02-2018-0013