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The present study investigates the impact of financial soundness variables on bank performance in emerging countries.

This study uses macro-level panel data from 17 countries from 2011 to 2020. The analysis adopts six models. While four models include bank profitability, the dependent variable of the other models is Bank Z Scores. Regulatory Capital to Risk-Weighted Assets, Liquid Assets to Total Assets, Non-Performing Loans to Total Gross Loans and Non-Interest Expenses to Gross Income are proxies of financial soundness variables.

The authors estimate fixed and random effects models with the Arellano, Froot and Rogers methods. Empirical results show that Non-Performing Loans to Total Gross Loans harm ROA and ROE. Regulatory Capital to Risk-Weighted Assets negatively affects ROE. Non-Interest Expenses to Gross Income on Bank Z Scores have a significant and negative effect. Moreover, Inflation, Foreign Direct Investment and GDP are macroeconomic variables that increase bank profitability.

This study contributes to the literature in different aspects. The first is the model of the study. The authors contribute to the literature regarding the variables used to measure financial soundness. Secondly, emerging countries are samples in the study. A significant part of the studies on financial soundness has focused on developed countries. Finally, the authors analyze the macro-level data. Bank soundness studies mainly investigate country-level variables. Macro-level analysis may provide an advantage in combating global financial crises.

The contribution of the banking industry to the financial crisis of 2007/8 has raised public concerns about the financial soundness of banks around the world with many countries still suffering the backlogs of this crisis. The continuous emergence of such crises at both national and international levels increases governments', bank regulators' and financial market participants' need for reliable tools to assess the financial soundness of banks. In this context, this study investigates the financial soundness of the Kazakh banking sector, which is ranked by the World Bank as the first in the world in terms of the percentage of nonperforming loans (NPL) to total gross loans in 2012.

Using data about all Kazakh banks over the period January 01, 2008 to January 01, 2014, the study identifies a number of accounting indicators that influence the financial soundness of banks using principal component analysis (PCA). Then, it uses the outcomes of the PCA in a cluster analysis and groups the Kazakh banks into sound, risky and unsound banks at two points in time: January 01, 2008 and January 01, 2014. This methodology was further tested against a ranking system of banks and proved to be more reliable in detecting risky banks.

Fifteen financial ratios were initially selected as accounting indicators for the assessment of bank financial soundness. Using PCA, twelve indicators were isolated, which explain five principal components of capital adequacy, return on assets, profitability, asset quality, liquidity and leverage. Then using the “k-means” method, the results suggest a structure of the Kazakh banking sector on January 01, 2008 that includes two groups of banks: sound and risky banks. On January 01, 2014, this structure of the banking system has changed to include three groups of banks: sound, risky and unsound banks. Thus, in 2014 a new group of banks has emerged, i.e. financially unsound banks.

The proposed cluster-based methodology has proven to be a reliable tool to detect the financial soundness of Kazakh banks, which makes us advocate its employability for bank monitoring and supervision purposes.

This study is the first to employ a cluster-based methodology to assess the financial soundness of a banking sector. This methodology can be used at a micro-level to determine the structure of a banking sector. Also, it can be used to monitor any changes in the structure of a banking sector and provide early warning signals about the financial health of banks.

The unique characteristic of Islamic bank leads in governance and disclosure. Using stakeholder, signaling, and market discipline theory, governance and adequate disclosure may increase bank soundness. This study aims to investigate the relationship of sharia disclosure and Sharia Supervisory Board in influencing Islamic bank soundness in the different regulatory framework of the country. Using purposive sampling, the research covered 84 Islamic banks in 16 countries during the period 2013–2015 with lag data of Islamic bank soundness. The result shows sharia disclosure influences on Islamic bank soundness for management efficiency, capital adequacy ratio, asset quality, and liquidity. The results also show that sharia disclosure mediates the indirect effect of SSB on Islamic bank soundness. The regulatory framework (sharia accounting standard and SSB regulation) shows moderating effect of regulation framework proved on the association of sharia disclosure with management efficiency, capital, and liquidity. The effect is indirectly depending on the regulatory framework for proxy management efficiency, capital, and liquidity. The implication of the research suggests that sharia disclosure could increase the market discipline mechanism of Islamic bank stream. The Islamic bank can increase the transparency using sharia disclosure as a branding for increasing public trust, even though in the deficient Islamic bank regulation countries.

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between corporate governance and financial soundness of Islamic banks. Precisely, this study examines the Shariah Board’s characteristics and empirically diagnoses its impact on the financial soundness of Islamic banks.

In this case, the level of bank soundness is individually measured using the z-score indicator. Regression analyses are applied to test the impact of the Shariah Board’s characteristics on the financial soundness of Islamic banks, using a panel data set of 67 Islamic banks – covering 20 countries during the period 2005–2014.

The model shows that the size of the Shariah Board has a negative and significant impact on the financial soundness of Islamic banks. However, the Shariah scholar with knowledge in finance/accounting, the presence of Mufti, the interlocked Shariah scholar and the foreign Shariah scholar do not have any significant impact on the financial soundness of Islamic banks.

This study contributes to fill the gaps in the literature that discussed the Shariah Boards’ role in the governance of Islamic banks. In addition, it provides practical implications to the Shariah Boards’ members in the Islamic banks and calls for setting a sufficient number of scholars for each Shariah Board.

With this paper, the authors aim to clarify the relationship between Shariah Board and financial soundness of the Islamic banking, and provide additional insights to the emerging literature of Islamic banking. Contrary to previous research studies, the authors use an additional hypothesis, i.e. the presence of Mufti that has a positive and significant effect on the financial soundness of Islamic Banks. Methodologically, the authors incorporate a new measure to evaluate empirically the impact of Shariah Board members with knowledge of finance and accounting on the financial soundness of Islamic banks.

This study aims to examine whether the soundness of Islamic banks is differently affected by corruption compared to conventional counterparts. Moreover, the Shari’ah supervisory board (SSB), as a cornerstone of Islamic banking and representing a multi-layer corporate governance model, is expected to moderate the influence of corruption on soundness for Islamic banks.

This study considers a unique sample of 1,528 observations on 71 Islamic banks and 120 conventional banks operating in 11 emerging and developing Muslim countries over the 2010–2017 period. This study uses generalized least squares regression model and the coefficients are estimated by using random-effects estimator. In addition, to overcome a potential endogeneity concern for corruption and bank stability relationship, this study uses Two-Stage Least Squares regression instrumental variable estimator.

The authors find consistent evidence that higher levels of corruption adversely impact the soundness for conventional banks, in favor of the sand the wheel hypothesis in the corruption–development nexus. However, as expected, this study finds a less negative impact of corruption on soundness of Islamic banks. Moreover, SSB moderates the relationship between corruption and soundness of Islamic banks. The findings are robust to a battery of alternative checks.

Findings of the paper regarding the detrimental impact of corruption on bank soundness justify the urgency of the anti-corruption campaigns in these countries, particularly for conventional banks. Moreover, the findings provide support for the positive contribution of SSBs to overcome the adverse effect of corruption on soundness of Islamic banks and thereby underscoring the need for enforcement and regulatory mechanism for SSBs to be more effective.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine the moderating impact of Shari’ah supervision on the relationship between corruption and soundness of Islamic banks.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the Board of Directors’ characteristics and their impact on the financial soundness of Islamic banks.

Regression analysis is applied to test the impact of the Board of Directors’ characteristics on the financial soundness of Islamic banks, using a panel data set of 67 Islamic banks covering 20 countries from 2005 to 2018. The Z-score indicator is used to evaluate the Islamic banks’ soundness. To check the robustness of the results, this paper uses other dependent variables (CAMEL) than the Z-score.

The main results show that the presence of an independent non-executive director negatively impacts the financial soundness of Islamic banks, while the chief executive officer duality practice has a positive effect on it. Other characteristics of the Board of Directors do not significantly impact the financial soundness of Islamic banks (foreign director, institutional director, chairman with a Shari’ah degree, interlocked chairman and the Board of Directors’ size).

This study aims to fill the gaps in the literature that discuss the Board of Directors’ role in corporate governance and its impact on the financial soundness of Islamic banks. In other words, it shows the role played by the Board of Directors and improves the knowledge of the corporate governance-financial soundness relationship. Plus, managers, investors and regulators may gain evocative insights, particularly those looking to improve their Islamic banks’ soundness by restructuring their boards’ composition.

This study sheds new light on the literature on Islamic banking by clarifying the relationship between the Board of Directors and the financial soundness of Islamic banks. Contrary to previous research, this paper uses an additional hypothesis stating that a chairman with a Shari’ah degree (Fiqh Muamalt) has a positive impact on the financial soundness of Islamic banks.

The natural resources curse theory argues the higher dependency on natural resources leads to many socio-economic problems. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between corruption and banking soundness and also to compare the extent of this effect between the two groups of rich and poor in natural resources countries.

To this aim, the authors apply a panel data set comprised of 98 countries from 2012 to 2015.

The results show that nations with a higher level of corruption have poorer banking soundness. The authors also find that by considering the resource curse theory and the effect of natural resource rents in the model, the adverse impact of corruption on banking soundness is more substantial in countries with a higher natural dependency level (rich in natural resources).

Though studies have been conducted on corruption and banking soundness, this paper, by using resources curse theory, articulates that corruption is one of the most critical factors affecting banking soundness and has a destructive effect on the health of the banking system and the economy of almost all countries, especially in natural resource-based economies. This study will appeal to banks authorities, governments, policymakers, oversight financial institutions and those who have a vested interest in regulating financial crimes globally. They can prevent financial and banking crises by cooperating in the fight against corruption worldwide.

The study aims to analyze the effect of financial soundness on financial performance of commercial banks in Kenya.

The study used dynamic panel model to analyze data from commercial banks for the period 2009 to 2020. The study was modeled on the concept of CAMEL approach using five CAMEL variables as financial soundness indicators. Four indicators that is, net interest margin (NIM), earnings per share (EPS), return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE) were used as measures of financial performance.

Generalized method of moments results established that financial soundness had a statistically significant effect on NIM, ROA and ROE. It was also found that asset quality and earning quality had a statistically significant effect on net interest margin. In addition management efficiency had significant effect on ROE. However, the study established that capital adequacy, asset quality, earning quality and liquidity had a statistically insignificant effect on ROA and ROE respectively while capital adequacy, management efficiency and liquidity had statistically insignificant effect on NIM.

Bank managers should put into place effective financial policies to govern changes in CAMEL variables to ensure optimal banks' financial soundness to facilitate positive growth in banks' financial performance.

The current study is modeled on the concept of the CAMEL approach by employing the five CAMEL variables as financial soundness indicators. In addition, the study contributes to local literature by examining banks in a developing economy to provide reliable and relevant information on their differences to monitor their dynamics in financial soundness and financial performance which could not be provided by regional or global studies.

This study analyzed the moderating effect of bank size on the relationship between financial soundness and financial performance of commercial banks in Kenya.

The study employed data from 39 commercial banks for ten years from 2009 to 2018. Panel data regression model was used to analyze data.

The study results established a negative moderating effect of bank size on the relationship between commercial banks' financial soundness and net interest margin (NIM) and return on assets (ROA) with the results indicating a correlation coefficient of −0.1699 and −0.218, respectively. However, an absence of moderating effect was established when return on equity (ROE) was used as a measure of financial performance.

The paper finding recommends that banks' management and other policy makers should consider the effect of bank size while devising financial soundness policies to ensure optimal level of banks' financial soundness aimed at improving banks' financial performance. In addition, bankers associations should come up with policies to standardize asset quality management practices to ensure continuous positive performance of the banking sector.

The study shows the contribution and applicability of the theory of production in the banking sector.

This paper aims to examine whether the level of corruption affects profitability and soundness of Islamic banking.

This paper uses a dynamic panel of 61 Islamic banks from 12 Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries covering the period between 2016 and 2018.

This paper finds that the empirical evidence examined shows that corruption does affect the profitability and soundness of Islamic banks.

The value of this paper is to emphasize further understanding of corruption behaviour on Islamic banking in Islamic countries. This paper contributes to filling the gaps in the current literature on corruption and Islamic banking. Existing literature has only focussed on either profitability or soundness of Islamic banking, whereas this paper analyses the impact of corruption levels for both performance measurements simultaneously.