Commercial Bank Non-Interest Fee Charges: Are Fee Charges Different Between Islamic Banks and Conventional Banks? Evidence from Bangladesh

In the Western world, consumers complain about the soaring of non-interest bank fees during the recent years, the post global financial crisis in particular. Commercial banks charge a variety of non-interest fees for their transactions. This paper empirically tests whether the free charges are significantly different between conventional commercial banks and interest free Islamic banks. The average noninterest expenses to assets are 0.017 and 0.011 for conventional banks and Islamic banks respectively. The paper finds, using parametric test and nonparametric tests, no significant differences in noninterest expenses between conventional banks and Islamic banks. The competitive banking market of Bangladesh, suggested by low Herfindahl-Hirschman Index, is an important factor for the equality of mean fee charges between the conventional banks and the Islamic banks.