The measurement of the banking sector performance in Zimbabwe is motivated by the unique developments that typified the sector during the period 2009-2014 after emerging from an economic crisis. The Zimbabwean economy returned to stability and growth in 2009, after a decade long economic decline. Economic stability brought about growth in deposits, loans, assets, capitalization and profits during this period. The banking sector has been accused of excessive profiteering through overpricing their products, which culminated in the intervention by the authorities in the sector. The interest rates spread, fees and other charges were presumed to be high which motivated the need to understand whether the banking sector is efficient or inefficient given the high interest rate spreads between the deposit rates and lending rates. Furthermore the high interest rates have raised the question of whether banks were exploiting their market power to price their products highly or whether their prices were determined by the dictates of market forces. Continued profitability of the sector also called for an investigation into what was driving the persistence of profitability over time. The primary objective of this research was to measure the performance of the banking sector during the period 2009-2014. The study contributes to the empirical literature by measuring and assessing the drivers of banking sector competition, efficiency and profitability and applying them at much disaggregated levels. This study also contributes to the debate on the relationships among the performance measures of competition, profitability and efficiency. The study adopted a number of methods which contributes to the array of tools central banks can employ to measure bank performance. The study employed a number of methodologies to measure the competition, efficiency and profitability performance of the banking sector. Competition was estimated using the new empirical industrial organisation methods of Panza and Rose (1987) and the Lerner (1934) Index was used. Cost and revenue efficiency was estimated using the two step methods of Data Envelopment Analysis followed by the Tobit regression method. An assessment of the persistence and drivers of profitability was measured using the Generalised Method of Moments. This study shows that the banking sector was operating under monopolistic competition market structure. This implies that banks held some market power as a result of product differentiation due to unique features such as brands, image and advertising, among others. The study indicates that competition increased during the period 2009-2014. Market power/competition in the banking sector during the study period was driven by capital adequacy, non-performing loans, liquidity risk, cost-income ratio, economic growth and government policy on pricing of bank products. The study suggests that the banking sector experienced an average inefficiency level of approximately 35 per cent in relationship with the best performing institutions in the sample. As a result of stability experienced in the economy, the average revenue and cost efficiency increased between 2009 and 2014. The study further established that the discord around the implementation of the indigenisation and empowerment law, coupled with the government intervention in the banking sector had a negative impact on the banking sector efficiency. It also found that efficiency is determined by market power, capital adequacy, cost income ratio, economic growth, inflation, market share and profitability. The Granger Causality test between cost efficiency and market power suggests that causality is bidirectional. On the other hand granger causality between revenue efficiency and market power is unidirectional and positive, running from revenue efficiency to market power. The result implies that policy measures should bring a balance between increasing competition and improving the revenue efficiency. The study shows that the banking sector was profitable during the period 2009 to 2014. The profitability was a reflection of a stable macroeconomic environment, typified by low inflation levels, despite the crises during this period. It further reveals that the banking sector‟s profitability persisted over time, reflecting the regulatory structure of the sector. The study established that profitability was determined by market power, non-performing loans, liquidity risk, capital adequacy, bank size and cost efficiency. This implies profitability was driven by bank specific determinants. There are a number of policy implications derived from the study. Regulatory measures such as forced consolidations can lead to excessive market power by the banking institution; hence it should be moderated. Banks should enhance credit risk because NPLs has been dragging profits. Banks should take advantage of the various measures introduced, such as the setting up of the special purpose vehicle and credit reference bureau. The government should avoid tampering with market forces as this reduces competition, efficiency and profitability and put in place measures that grow the economy as it increases the efficiency and profitability of the banking sector.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nmmu/vital:20806 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Abel, Sanderson |
| Publisher | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Doctoral, PhD |
| Format | xvi, 267 leaves, pdf |
| Rights | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University |
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