This thesis consists of three empirical essays on contemporary issues related to the banking and financial sector, particularly banks’ capital, performance, and financial inclusion. The first essay investigates the determinants of bank capital structure taking into account the impact of the crisis, banks’ systemic size and risks. Using a sample of the European Economic Area’s listed banks over 2005-2014, we find that equity capital is negatively associated with size and positively with profits, market-to-book ratio, dividends, and market return volatility risk; while credit risk does not seem to significantly affect banks’ capital structure decisions. Moreover, we find a positive relationship between equity capital and banks’ reputational risk related to Environmental Social Governance issues. The second essay explores the relationship between financial inclusion and bank performance proxied by a CAMEL-based performance index constructed using principal component analysis. We use alternative measures of financial inclusion, and distinguish between high and low income countries for 131 countries over 2005-2014. Our evidence shows that bank performance is negatively associated with credit deepening and positively with the number of ATMs. However, we find a positive association between different indicators of financial inclusion and bank performance in low income countries. The third essay develops a multidimensional financial inclusion index using principal component analysis for a sample of 95 countries over the period 2004-2015. The financial inclusion index shows an overall progress over the sample period, most markedly in the accessibility and usage dimensions. Examining country-specific factors that explain differences in the level of financial inclusion, we find that higher banking system competition, financial freedom, and capital stringency are associated with higher financial inclusion. Additionally, the level of human development, gender inequality, and education matters greatly in explaining the variation in financial inclusion across countries.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:761650 |
| Date | January 2018 |
| Creators | Sha'ban, Mais |
| Publisher | University of Essex |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://repository.essex.ac.uk/23592/ |
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