Bora Aktan

This paper analyzes the performance of Islamic banks operating in Pakistan according to their financial results of the year 2015. CAMELS rating model is applied in this research. This model is based on certain financial ratios which are excerpt from values in the financial statements of banks. The authors conduct the research under the umbrella of quantitative paradigm. The authors found that 2 of the Islamic banks are showing satisfactory results, while others are on fair position. There is a need to develop financial markets for treasury operations for these banks. Results help in development of growth strategy for Islamic banks in Pakistan, as well as they might be useful to create a fair snapshot for regulators to develop growth strategy for this stream of banking.

Keywords: Islamic banking, performance, growth analysis, CAMELS.
JEL Classification: G02, G21, G32

This study investigates the impact of various resources, specifically both tangible and intangible ones, together with capabilities of Malaysian listed firms, on their performance. This empirical study attempts to enrich the understanding of the resources-performance relationship, which is one of a business process within the firm, as well as filling the gaps in present knowledge. Firms, which are not able to develop and sustain their performance, are associated with the vulnerability and adverse performance result, especially during various periods of economic crisis (three sub-periods of major shocks, i.e., The Volcker Shock (Commodities Shock) of early 1980s, Asian Financial Crisis of the late 1990s, and the Global Financial Meltdown of 2008). Hence, this research intends to explore which resources matter the most to firm profitability and its success. Drawing upon the combination of Donabedian’s structure process outcome and resource-based theories of the firm a conceptual framework is developed. Data for the study were collected from a sample of 250 publicly traded companies listed on Bursa Malaysia (MYX). In order to achieve the objective and response to the study question, partial least square and regression analysis are applied. Findings indicate that tangible resources have no impact, while intangible resources have positive and significant impact on firm performance. In addition, results show that efficient allocation of intangible resources is crucial to achieving good performance.

This study identifies the dividend policy determinants of banks and other financial institutions listed on Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) for a period from 2009 to 2015 through studying the impact on eight factors on banks’ dividends per share. Three models were adopted to investigate the determinants of the dividend policy and the factors that affect a bank’s decision to pay out dividends. The findings indicate that the previous year’s dividends per share, earnings per share, cash flow per share, firm size and return on average equity are positively related to the current year’s dividends per share, as hypothesized. The study shows that the leverage position, bank’s life cycle and growth opportunities are negatively related to the dividend payment. The study also reveals that banks and financial institutions in Qatar do a bit of “earnings smoothing” when comparing the earnings figures with the cash flow.

The goal of this study is to determine the elements that contribute to the profitability of commercial banks in Saudi Arabia. The study is important due to the fact that Saudi vision 2030 foresees Saudi Arabia as a global investment powerhouse and fulfilling this objective requires a profitable banking sector. The method chosen for the study is multiple regression analysis. The sample data is taken for the period ranging 2009 and 2015 for the 12 local banks. The research concludes that bank’s internal factors specifically, bank size, liquidity, credit risk and operational efficiency are significantly determining the profitability in the banks as compared to the economy’s macro-economic variables.

This paper examines the long-term relationship between BRICS and US stock markets by employing the cointegration technique and Granger causality to investigate the cointegration and causality direction in the capital markets. The impulse response function it is also employed to evaluate the persistence of the shocks. In the analysis, daily spot stock index returns are used from 2010 till 2017. The main findings of the cointegration analysis indicate that the US and BRICS stock markets are cointegrated and at least one cointegration vector exists among them. The Granger causality test shows that unidirectional causality runs from the US market towards the Russian, South African and Indian stock markets, while there is a bidirectional causal relation between US and Brazil stock markets.