The relationship between dividend policy and bank size: Evidence from Jordan

Abstract

The growing need to comprehend how dividend policy affects bank size, particularly in emerging markets like Jordan, makes this study relevant. Bank size, often measured by total assets, is a key indicator of financial strength and stability. This study aims to examine the relationship between various measures of dividend policy – dividend per share, dividend yield, and dividend per share to earnings per share ratio – and bank size in Jordanian banks, using earnings per share as a control variable.The study employs ordinary least squares regression analysis to investigate the relationship between these variables over a sample of Jordanian banks. Three regression models were constructed to evaluate the impact of each dividend measure on bank size. The results indicate a significant positive relationship between dividend per share and bank size, and between the dividends per share to earnings per share ratio and bank size. The results show that approximately 43.9% of the variance in bank size is explained by the Dividends per share and Earnings per share, and a significant positive correlation is observed between total assets (bank size) and dividend per share, with a coefficient of 53%. Dividend yield, however, showed no significant impact on bank size.The results support that Jordanian banks with a sound dividend policy on dividend per share and its continuity with earnings exhibit higher asset growth. In this respect, bank growth appears to be highly dependent on a prudent dividend policy even from an emerging markets perspective.