Determinants of liquidity risk in Islamic banks

This study investigates the impact of political instability, macroeconomic and bank-specific factors on the profitability of Islamic banks in the context of Yemen. The study used two common measures of profitability, namely, Return on Assets (ROA) and Return on Equity (ROE) as dependent variables. Seven key independent (internal and external) variables are also used. There are five fully-fledged Islamic banks (IBs) working in Yemen. The study selected only three out of five IBs due to the availability of data for the period ranging from 2010 to 2014. The descriptive and multiple regression analyses were done. The results of the study indicate that operating efficiency and financial risk have negative and significant relationships with ROA and ROE. The findings also show that capital adequacy has a negative and insignificant relationship with ROA and ROE. Furthermore, the study reveals that assets size (LogA), assets management, liquidity and deposits have a significant and positive impact on banks’ profitability. GDP, Inflation rate (IR) and Political instability have positive and significant impact on Yemeni banks’ profitability. Based on the best knowledge of the authors, this study is considered one of the first and pioneering studies that determine the factors affecting the profitability of Islamic banks of Yemen. Therefore, the study gives good insights for the policy makers, regulators and interested parties for enhancing the profitability of Islamic banks in Yemen.

This research identifies factors that explain the liquidity of commercial banks in the Vietnam banking system from 2010 to 2015. Using the OLS regression method for analysis, it was found that:

1. the interbank market helps commercial banks improve their liquidity;
2. the larger the loan size, the higher the liquidity risk;
3. good credit risk management has a positive impact on liquidity risk management; and
4. long-term interest rate is negatively related to the liquidity of commercial banks.

The research also makes recommendations on liquidity risk management policies to banks and policy-makers from the Government and the State Bank of Vietnam.

Indonesian Islamic Banking Act requires conventional banks to spin-off their Islamic business units if they had fulfilled the spin-off criteria. Some of the Islamic business units had done the spin-off process although they are not fulfilling the spin-off criteria. The data showed that there is an efficiency decline after the spun-off. This study is going to examine the spin-off’s impact on the efficiency in spin-off banks. The method used in this paper is a difference-in-differences analysis. The sample used is four spin’s banks as treatment objects and two Islamic full-pledge banks as control objects. This research shows that there is an impact of spin-off policy on the efficiency in spin-off banks. There is an efficiency decrease in spin-off banks after the activities. It implies that the spin-off policy is not the only strategy that can be implemented. The policy-makers can choose other strategies to enhance the development of Islamic banking industry.