Banking efficiency in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries: A comparative study

Abstract

We measure cost and profit efficiencies of banks operating in six GCC countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates) using heteroskedastic stochastic frontier (HSF) models. Our results show that measures of cost and profit efficiencies of banks vary widely across the six gulf countries over the same period. We examine whether cost and profit efficiencies of Islamic banks are significantly different from that of conventional banks. After allowing for bank risk, asset quality, environmental influences such as the level of interest rate, and country effect, we find that cost and profit efficiencies of Islamic banks are similar to that of conventional banks. Our results suggest that the country-specific variables have significant impact on cost and profit efficiencies of banks operating in GCC countries. Our findings indicate that cost and profit efficiencies of Islamic banks are more volatile than that of conventional banks.