Factors Affecting the Financial Performance of Islamic Banks in Pakistan

Abstract

This research aims to evaluate the internal factors influencing the performance of Islamic banks in Pakistan. There are currently five Islamic banks in operation, and data from all five have been used to analyze their performance from 2008 to 2021. The data was collected from the State Bank of Pakistan. To examine financial performance, this study used return on assets (ROA) and returns on equity (ROE) as proxies, and considered both internal attributes (such as liquidity, bank size, asset quality, capital adequacy ratio, operational efficiency, and assets management) and external factors (such as macroeconomic indicators like GDP growth and inflation rate). Ordinary least squares (OLS) estimation is employed to examine the relationship among variables. The estimation findings suggest that all of the internal factors have a strong association with banks' performance. Bank size and asset quality were found to have a positive and significant association with ROA, while asset quality and assets management were associated positively with ROE. Additionally, during the Covid-19 pandemic period, banks' size and liquidity were found to adversely affect ROA of Islamic banks, while operational efficiency had a positive impact.