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This paper aims to examine how the diversity of educational levels within bank boards influences the efficiency and stability of banks operating in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Unlike previous studies, this analysis also investigates the role of board gender diversity in moderating the relationship between board educational level diversity and bank efficiency and financial stability in MENA.

In this study, a sample of 77 banks in the MENA region spanning the years 2011 to 2018 is used. The relationship between the presence of highly educated directors on the board, bank efficiency and stability is assessed using the ordinary least squares method. Additionally, the authors use the Generalized Method of Moments technique to correct endogeneity problem.

This study establishes a positive association between the presence of directors with advanced educational backgrounds on bank boards and bank efficiency and stability. Furthermore, the inclusion of women on the board strengthens this relationship.

These findings have important implications for policymakers and regulators in the MENA region, suggesting that promoting diversity policies that encourage the participation of highly educated directors on bank boards can contribute to enhanced efficiency and financial stability. Policymakers may also consider implementing quotas or guidelines to improve gender diversity in board appointments, thereby fostering bank performance in the region.

This study stands out for its innovation and distinctiveness, as it delves into the connection between board educational level diversity and bank efficiency in the MENA region. Notably, it surpasses previous research by investigating the moderating role of board gender diversity, thus offering valuable insights into the complex interplay between these two facets of board diversity. This contribution enriches the existing literature by providing novel perspectives on board composition dynamics and its influence on bank efficiency and stability.

Whether environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors are a curse or a blessing in the run for performance is still a burning issue. This is all the more true for banks, as their call for action in ESG dimensions clashes with evidence of scandals. As a more aligned to reality view, we propose to regard the mistreatment of ESG issues, both theoretically and empirically, as an undesirable output of banks' everyday activity. Empirically, we question whether 128 leading banks worldwide neglected the minimisation of ESG controversies (ESGC) in pursuing traditional productive efficiency, over the timespan 2011–2021.

To our end, we use oriented distance functions according to the nonparametric efficiency approach of data envelopment analysis (DEA). This framework accounts for undesirable outputs.

Being inefficient in the ESGC domain is not a necessary evil to achieve productive efficiency. Instead, incurring in higher ESGC negatively affects productive efficiency, by causing future decrease of reputation and performance.

We propose a new paradigm of banks’ activity and related efficiency evaluation. In so doing, we favour a real dimension of banks’ engagement in ESG concerns.

The main objective of this study is to analyze the mediating role of intellectual capital in the relationship between diversification, financial stability, and efficiency of the banking sector in Ethiopia.

Secondary data for this study was obtained from audited financial statements of 17 Ethiopian commercial banks for a decade starting in 2013. A descriptive and explanatory research design with a quantitative research approach was employed. The seemingly unrelated Hierarchical regression analysis is used to estimate diversification’s effect on banks' financial stability and efficiency, considering the interaction between diversification and intellectual capital as a mediating variable.

The Mediation analysis reveals that asset diversification improves the financial stability of commercial banks when mediated by intellectual efficiency. Investment diversification negatively impacts risk-adjusted return on asset and Z score. Intellectual capital significantly enhances commercial banks' efficiency and financial stability in Ethiopia and mediates the relationship between geographic diversification, financial stability, and efficiency. The mediation analysis also indicates that intellectual capital significantly mediates the relationship between income diversification and efficiency.

This study highlights the importance of intellectual capital and promotes its strategic allocation by management and regulatory bodies to enhance the financial stability and operational effectiveness of the banking industry in Ethiopia.

To the best of the researcher’s knowledge, this study is one of the rare attempts to investigate the mediating role of intellectual capital on the nexus between diversification, financial stability, and efficiency of commercial banks in Ethiopia.

The aim of this paper is to determine whether the efficiency of banks’ human capital (HC) has moderating effects on the relationship between asset diversification and bank performance over the 2008–2020 period.

Our study considers generalized least squares estimation in fixed effects panel.

Results show that banks with higher levels of HC and higher degree of diversification reduce bank profitability and efficiency. The results also depict that the financial stability-reducing effects of Income diversification decrease as bank HC efficiency increases. At the same time, the effects of income and asset diversity on financial stability change depending on the performance aspect.

Previous research on banks’ performance is concentrated on asset diversification. This article broadens to the HC, Asset diversification and the moderating effects of the profitability, stability and efficiency of French Banks.

This study aims to investigate whether the changes in gender composition of bank board affects Vietnamese bank stability efficiency.

This research covers a panel of 27 commercial banks in Vietnam over a 14-year period from 2007 to 2020. The two-step system generalized method of moments is used to estimate the gender diversity–Vietnamese bank stability efficiency nexus.

The authors find that a greater degree of board gender diversification enhances bank stability efficiency and reduces bank risk-taking in Vietnam. The relationship between gender diversity and the stability efficiency of Vietnamese banks is still valid under the influence of regulatory capital sufficiency and during the financial crisis. These findings are robust to alternative proxies for risk indicators and consistent with the perspectives of stakeholder and behavior theory.

Although this research revisits the relationship between gender diversity and bank risk-taking, it is the first attempt to explore the role of women on board in enhancing the stability efficiency of banks, using the stochastic frontier approach. These findings shed light on the function of gender diversity as a governance instrument for mitigating risk in an emerging market context.

The current study immerses in the realm of bank mergers among prominent PSBs in India, focusing on the financial performance of six recently merged PSBs entities. Amidst the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on economies, the study aims to uncover the efficiency of these PSBs in navigating this unprecedented crisis.

The evaluation encompasses panel data on an annual basis spanning from 2020 to 2023. To assess the overall efficiency of merged PSBs, the advanced statistical technique like one-step system generalized method of moments has been applied to estimate its efficiency.

The study findings affirm that PSB mergers have bolstered financial metrics and efficiency. Enhanced return on equity (ROA) and net profit margin (NPM) signify improved profitability and efficiency. The consolidation also facilitates better asset management and utilization. Moreover, merged entities benefit from economies of scale, cost efficiencies, risk diversification, technological investments, and overall performance improvements.

The study's policy suggestions stress ongoing consolidation efforts to boost banking sector resilience, advocating for improved efficiency, governance, and asset quality management. These steps are crucial for successful bank mergers and fostering a robust, competitive banking landscape in India.

This study is a novel attempt to analyze Indian bank profitability and efficiency post PSB mergers amid COVID-19 pandemic. In a developing country like India, especially in PSBs has experienced significant structural changes over the previous 7 years just before pandemic, such a study necessitates a prompt empirical investigation.

This study attempts to comprehensively analyze the cost Malmquist productivity index of conventional and Islamic banks in Saudi Arabia, the largest dual banking sector in the world, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study employs the novel approach of cost Malmquist productivity index, which focuses on production costs, to measure the change in cost productivity so that the actual impact of the COVID-19 pandemic could be captured.

The Saudi Central Bank has successfully mitigated the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the Saudi banking sector by implementing several policies and services. This success is reflected in the large positive shift in the production frontier of Saudi banks. Moreover, it was found that Islamic Saudi banks were by far more productive than conventional Saudi banks during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the total cost productivity index (CMPCH) of Islamic Saudi banks starts to decline sharply in the last quarter of 2022 compared to conventional Saudi banks, indicating that Islamic banks in Saudi Arabia are suffering the most from the tighter monetary policy recently implemented by the Saudi Central Bank.

The results provide insights for policymakers and investors on how different types of banks respond differently to economic crises and monetary policy changes. Targeted support measures may be needed to ensure all banks remain productive and efficient.

To the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to use this innovative methodology to assess the impact of COVID-19 on bank performance in a dual banking sector.

This study aims to examine how the Bank of Ghana’s (BoG’s) directive on establishing a Cyber and Information Security Governance Committee (CISGC) affects banks’ financial performance (FP) and efficiency. The FP of banks is measured by return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE), while efficiency is measured by operational costs to operating revenue (CIR). The study examines the CISGC’s cyber and IT expertise, committee size, meetings and female representation features.

Data from 20 universal banks in Ghana between 2019 and 2022 was used to examine the impact of the CISGC features on Bank FP and efficiency using generalized least squares regression and robustness test.

CISGC’s cyber and IT expertise has a positive impact on ROA, but no impact on ROE or CIR. Their size, meetings and female representation do not affect performance. This highlights the need for key measures to be instituted for effective cyber and information security governance.

This study has several limitations. First, the scope was initially limited to universal banks in Ghana. Future studies should cover all banks operating in Ghana.

When forming the CISGC, banks should ensure that cybersecurity expertise is represented, and that female representation is considered. Additionally, given the ongoing evolution of cybersecurity threats, banks should ensure comprehensive digitization and robust cybersecurity safeguards.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first to investigate how CISGC impacts bank performance in Ghana following the BoG’s Cyber and Information Security directive.

This study investigates the relationship between bank capital and liquidity creation and further examines the effect that institutional quality has on this relationship in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

The data comprise 41 universal banks in nine SSA countries from 2010 to 2022. The study employs the two-step system generalized methods of moments and further uses alternative estimators such as the fixed-effect and two-stage least squares methods.

The empirical results show that bank capital has a direct positive and significant effect on liquidity creation. In addition, the positive effect of bank capital on liquidity creation is enhanced, particularly in a strong institutional environment. The results imply that nonconstraining capital regulatory policies bolster bank solvency, improve risk-absorption capacity and increase liquidity creation.

This study has several policy implications. First, it provides empirical evidence on the position of banks in SSA on the financial fragility and risk-absorption hypothesis of bank capital and liquidity creation debates. This study shows that the effect of bank capital on liquidity creation in SSA countries is positive and supports the risk-absorption hypothesis. Second, this study highlights that a country's quality institutions can complement bank capital to increase liquidity creation. In addition, this study highlights that nonconstraining capital regulatory policies will bolster bank solvency, improve risk-absorption capacity and increase liquidity creation.

The novelty of this study is that it introduces the country's quality institutional environment into bank capital and liquidity creation links for the first time in SSA.

This paper aims to examine the profitability of Islamic banks benefits from economic freedom and its subcomponents.

This study uses a sample of 41 Islamic banks from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Countries selected from 2010–2020. It conducts an empirical approach based on the System Generalized Method of Moments (SGMM).

Overall, economic freedom has a substantial impact on the profitability of Islamic banks. We then investigate the relationship between the subcomponents of economic freedom and the profitability of Islamic banks. The study’s breakdown components suggest that financial and investment freedoms are favorable indicators, while business and monetary freedoms have a negative effect.

This research can serve as a guideline for Islamic bank management in terms of maintaining performance. The results of this study provide policy implications for the government to offer friendly regulations for economic actors to engage in financial transactions by looking at the economic freedom sub-component.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, the study of the role of economic freedom in Islamic banking performance is limited, particularly in the context of OIC Countries.