IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/assmgt/v21y2020i6d10.1057_s41260-020-00181-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do Board Characteristics Affect Bank Performance? Evidence from the Eurozone

Author

Listed:
  • Ahmed Bouteska

    (University of Tunis El Manar, Faculty of Economics and Management of Tunis)

Abstract

This study analyzed the effect of board structure characteristics on bank performance. Over a sample of 50 banks in five Eurozone countries, including the UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain, during the period 2000–2019, our empirical evidence has suggested that most board characteristics increase bank performance, while the separation of the roles of CEO and chairman inhibits it. By using fixed effects and random effects regressions, as well as a pooled OLS panel data estimation, we have found that a board size of between 7 and 10 has a significant impact on bank performance. In addition to board size, we have also found that board independence has a positive and significant impact on bank performance. Furthermore, results have shown that the number of board meetings and financial experts plays an important role on bank performance. In contrast, there is no considerable increase in bank performance when the role of CEO and chairman is separated.

Suggested Citation

  • Ahmed Bouteska, 2020. "Do Board Characteristics Affect Bank Performance? Evidence from the Eurozone," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(6), pages 535-548, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:pal:assmgt:v:21:y:2020:i:6:d:10.1057_s41260-020-00181-2
    DOI: 10.1057/s41260-020-00181-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41260-020-00181-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41260-020-00181-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Duru, Augustine & Iyengar, Raghavan J. & Zampelli, Ernest M., 2016. "The dynamic relationship between CEO duality and firm performance: The moderating role of board independence," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(10), pages 4269-4277.
    2. Chauhan, Yogesh & Lakshmi, K. Rajya & Dey, Dipanjan Kumar, 2016. "Corporate governance practices, self-dealings, and firm performance: Evidence from India," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 274-289.
    3. Benston, George J. & Hartgraves, Al L., 2002. "Enron: what happened and what we can learn from it," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 105-127.
    4. Muniandy, Balachandran & Hillier, John, 2015. "Board independence, investment opportunity set and performance of South African firms," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 35(PA), pages 108-124.
    5. Fama, Eugene F & Jensen, Michael C, 1983. "Separation of Ownership and Control," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(2), pages 301-325, June.
    6. Francis, Bill B. & Hasan, Iftekhar & Wu, Qiang, 2012. "Do corporate boards matter during the current financial crisis?," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 39-52.
    7. Masulis, Ronald W. & Wang, Cong & Xie, Fei, 2012. "Globalizing the boardroom—The effects of foreign directors on corporate governance and firm performance," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 527-554.
    8. Andres, Pablo de & Vallelado, Eleuterio, 2008. "Corporate governance in banking: The role of the board of directors," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(12), pages 2570-2580, December.
    9. Hamadi Matoussi & Rihab Grassa, 2012. "Is Corporate Governance Different for Islamic Banks? A Comparative Analysis between the Gulf Cooperation Council Context and the Southeast Asia Context," Working Papers 734, Economic Research Forum, revised 2012.
    10. repec:zbw:bofitp:2010_004 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Michael C. Jensen, 2010. "The Modern Industrial Revolution, Exit, and the Failure of Internal Control Systems," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 22(1), pages 43-58, January.
    12. Cornett, Marcia Millon & McNutt, Jamie John & Tehranian, Hassan, 2009. "Corporate governance and earnings management at large U.S. bank holding companies," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 412-430, September.
    13. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1997. "A Survey of Corporate Governance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 737-783, June.
    14. Benjamin E. Hermalin & Michael S. Weisbach, 1991. "The Effects of Board Composition and Direct Incentives on Firm Performance," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 20(4), Winter.
    15. Anthony Kyereboah‐Coleman & Kofi A. Osei, 2008. "Outreach and profitability of microfinance institutions: the role of governance," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 35(3), pages 236-248, August.
    16. Andreou, Panayiotis C. & Louca, Christodoulos & Panayides, Photis M., 2014. "Corporate governance, financial management decisions and firm performance: Evidence from the maritime industry," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 59-78.
    17. Booth, James R. & Deli, Daniel N., 1999. "On executives of financial institutions as outside directors," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 5(3), pages 227-250, September.
    18. Irene Karamanou & Nikos Vafeas, 2005. "The Association between Corporate Boards, Audit Committees, and Management Earnings Forecasts: An Empirical Analysis," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(3), pages 453-486, June.
    19. Adams, Renée B. & Mehran, Hamid, 2012. "Bank board structure and performance: Evidence for large bank holding companies," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 243-267.
    20. Caprio, Gerard & Laeven, Luc & Levine, Ross, 2007. "Governance and bank valuation," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 584-617, October.
    21. Levine,Ross Eric, 2004. "The Corporate Governance of Banks - a concise discussion of concepts and evidence," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3404, The World Bank.
    22. Renee B. Adams & Hamid Mehran, 2003. "Is corporate governance different for bank holding companies?," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, vol. 9(Apr), pages 123-142.
    23. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    24. Rosenstein, Stuart & Wyatt, Jeffrey G., 1990. "Outside directors, board independence, and shareholder wealth," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 175-191, August.
    25. Gopal V. Krishnan & Gnanakumar Visvanathan, 2008. "Does the SOX Definition of an Accounting Expert Matter? The Association between Audit Committee Directors' Accounting Expertise and Accounting Conservatism," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(3), pages 827-858, September.
    26. Berger, Allen N. & Hasan, Iftekhar & Zhou, Mingming, 2010. "The effects of focus versus diversification on bank performance: Evidence from Chinese banks," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(7), pages 1417-1435, July.
    27. Boone, Audra L. & Casares Field, Laura & Karpoff, Jonathan M. & Raheja, Charu G., 2007. "The determinants of corporate board size and composition: An empirical analysis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(1), pages 66-101, July.
    28. Liang, Qi & Xu, Pisun & Jiraporn, Pornsit, 2013. "Board characteristics and Chinese bank performance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 2953-2968.
    29. Renée B. Adams & Daniel Ferreira, 2007. "A Theory of Friendly Boards," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(1), pages 217-250, February.
    30. Brickley, James A. & Coles, Jeffrey L. & Jarrell, Gregg, 1997. "Leadership structure: Separating the CEO and Chairman of the Board," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 189-220, June.
    31. Burak Güner, A. & Malmendier, Ulrike & Tate, Geoffrey, 2008. "Financial expertise of directors," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(2), pages 323-354, May.
    32. Baysinger, Barry D & Butler, Henry N, 1985. "Corporate Governance and the Board of Directors: Performance Effects of Changes in Board Composition," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 1(1), pages 101-124, Spring.
    33. Yang, Tina & Zhao, Shan, 2014. "CEO duality and firm performance: Evidence from an exogenous shock to the competitive environment," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 534-552.
    34. Yermack, David, 1996. "Higher market valuation of companies with a small board of directors," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 185-211, February.
    35. Paula L. Rechner & Dan R. Dalton, 1991. "CEO duality and organizational performance: A longitudinal analysis," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(2), pages 155-160, February.
    36. Salim, Ruhul & Arjomandi, Amir & Seufert, Juergen Heinz, 2016. "Does corporate governance affect Australian banks' performance?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 113-125.
    37. Raheja, Charu G., 2005. "Determinants of Board Size and Composition: A Theory of Corporate Boards," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 40(2), pages 283-306, June.
    38. Fama, Eugene F, 1980. "Agency Problems and the Theory of the Firm," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 88(2), pages 288-307, April.
    39. Pi, Lynn & Timme, Stephen G., 1993. "Corporate control and bank efficiency," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(2-3), pages 515-530, April.
    40. Benjamin E. Hermalin & Michael S. Weisbach, 2003. "Boards of directors as an endogenously determined institution: a survey of the economic literature," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, vol. 9(Apr), pages 7-26.
    41. Ntim, Collins G., 2011. "The Impact of Corporate Board Meetings on Corporate Performance in South Africa," MPRA Paper 45814, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    42. Denis, Diane K. & McConnell, John J., 2003. "International Corporate Governance," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 38(1), pages 1-36, March.
    43. Georges Dionne & Thouraya Triki, 2005. "Risk Management and Corporate Governance: the Importance of Independence and Financial Knowledge for the Board and the Audit Committee," Cahiers de recherche 0515, CIRPEE.
    44. Agrawal, Anup & Chadha, Sahiba, 2005. "Corporate Governance and Accounting Scandals," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 48(2), pages 371-406, October.
    45. Barnhart, Scott W & Rosenstein, Stuart, 1998. "Board Composition, Managerial Ownership, and Firm Performance: An Empirical Analysis," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 33(4), pages 1-16, November.
    46. Coles, Jeffrey L. & Daniel, Naveen D. & Naveen, Lalitha, 2008. "Boards: Does one size fit all," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 329-356, February.
    47. Mark L. Defond & Rebecca N. Hann & Xuesong Hu, 2005. "Does the Market Value Financial Expertise on Audit Committees of Boards of Directors?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(2), pages 153-193, May.
    48. Liu, Yu & Miletkov, Mihail K. & Wei, Zuobao & Yang, Tina, 2015. "Board independence and firm performance in China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 223-244.
    49. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    50. Benjamin E. Hermalin & Michael S. Weisbach, 1988. "The Determinants of Board Composition," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 19(4), pages 589-606, Winter.
    51. Gillan, Stuart L., 2006. "Recent Developments in Corporate Governance: An Overview," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 381-402, June.
    52. Dahya, Jay & McConnell, John J., 2005. "Outside directors and corporate board decisions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 11(1-2), pages 37-60, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Berna Doğan Başar & Ahmed Bouteska & Burak Büyükoğlu & İbrahim Halil Ekşi, 2021. "The effect of corporate governance on bank performance: evidence from Turkish and some MENA countries banks," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(3), pages 153-162, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Naeem Tabassum & Satwinder Singh, 2020. "Corporate Governance and Organisational Performance," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-030-48527-6, December.
    2. C. P. Abdul Gafoor & V. Mariappan & S. Thiyagarajan, 2018. "Does the Board Structure Affect the Asset Quality of the Banks? Evidence from India," IIM Kozhikode Society & Management Review, , vol. 7(2), pages 122-131, July.
    3. Catarina Fernandes & Jorge Farinha & Francisco Vitorino Martins & Cesario Mateus, 2018. "Bank governance and performance: a survey of the literature," Journal of Banking Regulation, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(3), pages 236-256, July.
    4. Liang, Qi & Xu, Pisun & Jiraporn, Pornsit, 2013. "Board characteristics and Chinese bank performance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 2953-2968.
    5. Oumeima Kacem & Sana El Harbi, 2022. "Do risk governance and effective board affect bank performance? Evidence from large banks worldwide," Risk Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 24(4), pages 461-483, December.
    6. Muhammad Haris & Hongxing Yao & Gulzara Tariq & Hafiz Mustansar Javaid & Qurat Ul Ain, 2019. "Corporate Governance, Political Connections, and Bank Performance," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-37, October.
    7. Mamdouh Abdulaziz Saleh Al-Faryan, 2021. "The effect of board composition and managerial pay on Saudi firm performance," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 693-758, August.
    8. Mavrakana, Christina & Psillaki, Maria, 2019. "Do board structure and compensation matter for bank stability and bank performance? Evidence from European banks," MPRA Paper 95776, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Renee B. Adams & Benjamin E. Hermalin & Michael S. Weisbach, 2010. "The Role of Boards of Directors in Corporate Governance: A Conceptual Framework and Survey," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(1), pages 58-107, March.
    10. Catarina Fernandes & Jorge Farinha & Francisco Vitorino Martins & Cesario Mateus, 2017. "Supervisory boards, financial crisis and bank performance: do board characteristics matter?," Journal of Banking Regulation, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 18(4), pages 310-337, November.
    11. Jayati Sarkar & Subrata Sarkar, 2018. "Bank Ownership, Board Characteristics and Performance: Evidence from Commercial Banks in India," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 6(1), pages 1-30, February.
    12. Dong, Yizhe & Girardone, Claudia & Kuo, Jing-Ming, 2017. "Governance, efficiency and risk taking in Chinese banking," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 211-229.
    13. Walter Gontarek & Yacine Belghitar, 2021. "CEO chairman controversy: evidence from the post financial crisis period," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 675-713, February.
    14. Ameni Tarchouna & Bilel Jarraya & Abdelfettah Bouri, 2022. "Do board characteristics and ownership structure matter for bank non-performing loans? Empirical evidence from US commercial banks," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 26(2), pages 479-518, June.
    15. Bill Francis & Iftekhar Hasan & Qiang Wu, 2015. "Professors in the Boardroom and Their Impact on Corporate Governance and Firm Performance," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 44(3), pages 547-581, September.
    16. Salim Chahine & Assem Safieddine, 2011. "Is corporate governance different for the Lebanese banking system?," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 15(2), pages 207-226, May.
    17. Shkendije Himaj, 2014. "Corporate Governance in Banks and its Impact on Risk and Performance: Review of Literature on the Selected Governance Mechanisms," Journal of Central Banking Theory and Practice, Central bank of Montenegro, vol. 3(3), pages 53-85.
    18. Akbar, Saeed & Kharabsheh, Buthiena & Poletti-Hughes, Jannine & Shah, Syed Zulfiqar Ali, 2017. "Board structure and corporate risk taking in the UK financial sector," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 101-110.
    19. Phillip C. James, 2020. "Understanding the Impact of Board Structure on Firm Performance: AComprehensive Literature Review," International Journal of Business and Social Research, LAR Center Press, vol. 10(1), pages 1-12, January.
    20. Phillip C. James, 2020. "Understanding the Impact of Board Structure on Firm Performance: AComprehensive Literature Review," International Journal of Business and Social Research, MIR Center for Socio-Economic Research, vol. 10(1), pages 1-12, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Corporate governance; Board structure; Eurozone; Bank performance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G20 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - General
    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility
    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:assmgt:v:21:y:2020:i:6:d:10.1057_s41260-020-00181-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.