Impact of the Financial Crisis on Profitability of the Islamic Banks vs Conventional Banks- Evidence from GCC

Using the data extracted from BankScope database of 92 banks in GCC (27 Islamic Banks and 65 Conventional Banks) for the period from 2006 to 2009, this study intends to investigate the impact of the financial crisis on the performance of both Islamic and conventional banks and test whether Islamic bank performance is better before and during the crisis.The study employs T-Test to observe any significant difference between Islamic and Conventional banks performance before and during the crisis.Three ratios were used to represent bank profitability measures which are return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE) and net interest margin (NIM) while two variables were used to measures each one of the bank-specific characteristics,: Equity and Tangible Equity as measures for Capital Structure, Loans and Liquid Assets as measures for Liquidity, and Deposits and Overheads for Liability. The results showed that the financial crisis had a negative impact on profitability of both Islamic and conventional banks but the Islamic banks were more profitable than conventional bank during the financial crisis but not statistically significant. The profitability determinants behaved differently for Islamic and conventional banks during the crisis. By applying the t-test it is found that the Islamic banks had better capital structure than the conventional banks during the financial crisis while the conventional banks had better liquidity and liability ratios than the Islamic banks. No strong statistical evidence found that Islamic banking has weathered the financial crisis than conventional counterparts in all performance measures.