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This paper aims to investigate the impact of corporate governance practices on cost efficiency and financial stability for a sample of Islamic and conventional banks. In the analysis, the author uses a set of corporate governance variables that include, the board size, board independence, director gender, board meetings, board attendance, board committees, chair independence and CEO characteristics.

The author uses corporate governance data of Islamic banks that is unique in this field. In the analysis, the author also uses stochastic frontier analysis and panel vector autoregression models to quantify long-run and short-run statistical relationships between the operational efficiency of Islamic Banks and corporate governance practices.

According to the results, Islamic and conventional banks exhibit important differences in the effects of corporate governance practices on cost efficiency and financial stability. Results show that with a blind general adoption of corporate governance practices, Islamic banks may suffer a loss in their value since the adoption of the third layer of binding practices, over and above the already existing ones, imposed by the Sharia Board and the Board of Directors, may lead to cumbersome business operations. This conclusion is of importance to Islamic Banks since they struggle to survive in a very competitive international environment.

The author believes that the results may be of a certain value to regulators, policymakers and managers of Islamic banks. Based on the results, the author postulate that Islamic banks should select carefully international corporate governance practices.

Islamic banks should not adopt additional third layer of binding practices as that would result lower performance and instability that would be damaging for the economy

This study employs a unique sample of Islamic banks that includes corporate governance data hand collected. Our findings of the corporate governance impact on Islamic banks performance and stability are therefore unique in the literature.

The purpose of this paper is to test whether the volatility of regional stock markets’ is common or country-specific for 46 international markets of the Asian, European, African and Latin American regions using the Morgan Stanley Capital International daily prices in the period from January 1998 to December 2009. Further, the study has been divided into two sub-periods to distinguish the effects of the current sub-prime financial crisis and to determine whether the crisis has an impact on the fluctuations of common component of stock market volatility.

The paper applies the time-varying weighting methodology of Lumsdaine and Prasad (2003) to determine whether the volatility fluctuation is country-specific or common across the countries.

The results evidence that the volatility of stock returns is due to common factors, rather than country-specific ones, but this is not always the case. However, this common component is more stable in European and Latin American countries than in the Asia-Pacific and African regions. Furthermore, the results suggest that the influence of a common component has been enhanced significantly during the current sub-prime financial crisis.

The study has implication for domestic and international investors, portfolio managers, as well as policy-makers to implement economic and financial policy that promote stability, reduce vulnerability to crises and encourage sustained growth and living standards.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to include four regional samples and test the common component of fluctuations of regional stock markets volatility.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the time‐varying risk return relationship and the persistence of shocks to volatility within GARCH framework both in developed and emerging markets.

This paper uses nonlinear ARCH and GARCH‐family models for testing the volatility both in developed and emerging markets.

The findings of the paper suggest that there is a long‐term persistence shock in emerging markets compared to developed markets.

The data set used for the developed and emerging markets is not consistent in terms of sample period. However, this paper explores the venues for further research on the global diversification.

The implication of volatility measurement is vital in determining the cost of capital for investment and portfolio management, option pricing and for market regulations.

The unique features of the paper include large sample size with updated data set that reveals the nature of world economy and empirical evidence on volatility testing that reports the risk return characteristics of both developed and emerging markets.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of Shariah Advisory Board (SAB), Audit committee (AC) and board of directors (BD) characteristics on the performance of Islamic banks (IBs) in the MENA region.

The paper employs a quantitative approach, utilizing both ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and panel data analysis (random effects models) to examine the relationship between corporate governance variables and the performance of IBs. The sample consists of 50 IBs from 10 countries, spanning a seven-year period (2010–2016), with the exclusion of the Covid-19 pandemic period. To ensure the robustness of the results, various sensitivity tests were conducted, including pooled regression OLS and subsample analysis based on adhering to the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) standards.

The study's findings suggest that the size of the SAB and the membership of at least one member of the SAB on the AAOIFI have a notable adverse effect on the performance of IBs. On the other hand, the AC independence has a positive influence on bank performance. However, there was no significant impact observed for AC size, meeting frequency and BD characteristics on bank performance. The research also revealed nuanced relationships between governance variables and bank performance when analyzing the sample based on AAOIFI adoption. Among banks not adhering to AAOIFI standards, SAB size and CEO duality negatively affected return on assets, while AC independence positively impacted it. For AAOIFI-compliant banks, AC independence significantly improved bank performance, whereas AC meetings exhibited a negative effect. Furthermore, there were no significant relationships observed for return on equity among banks not adhering to AAOIFI standards, whereas AAOIFI-compliant banks experienced positive impacts from AC independence. These results offer valuable insights into the intricate connection between governance attributes and bank performance, particularly in the context of AAOIFI standards adoption.

The study's findings have important practical implications for various stakeholders in the Islamic banking industry. For bank practitioners and management, the study highlights the significance of enhancing the independence of AC to improve decision-making and risk management, leading to better bank performance. Moreover, careful selection of SAB members can mitigate potential negative effects on performance. Policymakers may consider promoting AAOIFI standards to shape the relationship between governance and bank performance. Investors can use the insights to make informed decisions, and banks with stronger governance may attract more investments.

Through quantitative analysis and AAOIFI-based sample division, this study adds to the growing literature on corporate governance and the performance of IBs by examining the impact of multiple corporate governance variables on the performance of IBs in the MENA region. To provide a theoretical basis for this relationship, three theories, namely agency, stewardship and stakeholder theories, are employed and discussed.

The motivation of the study is to shed further light on the question of whether the governance structure of Islamic banks (IBs) has an impact on the efficiency and risk of Islamic banks operating in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) after the global financial crisis and during the period 2010–2018. This study aims to examine the extent of governance structure on the efficiency and risk of IBs as the effect of the financial crisis has been less on IBs. In addition, the authors are interested in the GCC region as it represents the hub of Islamic finance.

In this study, the authors examine how the banking governance structure affects the risk-taking and performance of IBs in the GCC countries between 2010 and 2018. The authors construct a banking governance index (CGI) composed of sub-indices for the board structure, risk management, transparency and disclosure, audit committee, Sharia supervisory board and investment account holders. Unlike the majority of previous studies, bank performance is measured with technical efficiency scores using a data envelopment analysis and the authors use a comprehensive CGI.

The results show that IBs in GCC countries adhere to 54% of the attributes covered in the CGI. The authors also note a lack of disclosure regarding the investment account holders and the audit committee. As well, the results indicate that bank governance is positively associated with risk-taking and bank efficiency. Banking risk is influenced by the Sharia board and risk management while bank efficiency is affected by the characteristics of the board structure and investment account holders.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that has developed a comprehensive governance index for IBs in GCC countries that includes a wide range of governance dimensions. The study contributes to the literature on governance in the banking sector by simultaneously examining its impact on the risk-taking and efficiency of IBs and recognizes the dynamic relation between these three variables for IB.

This study aims to examine the role of Islamic Banking (IB) finance in promoting private sector investment within dual banking systems, with particular attention to the impact of institutional quality.

Using panel data from 26 countries with dual banking systems over the 2004–2022 period, this study uses the system-GMM estimator to analyze the interaction between private investment, IB finance and institutional quality, using both aggregated and disaggregated institutional quality indicators.

The results indicate that the direct effect of IB finance on private investment is generally limited across the sample. However, institutional quality, while showing a negative standalone effect, plays a pivotal role when considered interactively with IB finance. This study demonstrates that when both IB finance and institutional quality reach certain threshold levels, they exhibit a complementary relationship that significantly enhances private sector investment. The thresholds and key economic factors that influence private investment in the studied countries are estimated, providing valuable policy implications.

This research provides new insights into the interplay between IB finance and institutional quality, emphasizing that the effectiveness of IB finance is conditional upon strong institutional frameworks. Unlike previous studies, the work redefines the finance-growth nexus in dual banking systems, demonstrating that institutional improvements are essential to unlocking the full potential of IB finance.

This paper aims to investigate a fundamental research question of whether the Islamic banking business model makes corporate earnings more uncertain. This question arises because prior research shows that Islamic banks do well in loan performance but incur more operational costs than conventional banks, indicating the systemic limitation of Islamic banks in business risk management.

The study used a sample of banks to conduct the panel regression analysis with 15 years of data for 532 banks (129 Islamic and 403 conventional) from 23 Muslim countries across the world. The authors estimate earnings uncertainty in two ways: the spread and standard deviation of the country-adjusted return over the sample period and applied the difference-in-difference approach interacting cost to income ratio with the Islamic bank dummy, checking if Islamic bank’s high operational costs contribute to more earning uncertainty.

Islamic banks’ returns on assets are significantly more uncertain than conventional banks due to higher operational costs. Consistent with earlier evidence, the study also finds that Islamic banks generally have fewer nonperforming loans than conventional banks. The authors conclude that Islamic banks trade-off between reducing credit risk and escalating business risk.

This study documents that the Islamic banking model helps build a safer asset portfolio but gives rise to the uncertainty of corporate earnings. Therefore, the choice between Islamic and conventional banking models involves a trade-off between credit and business risks. It is a new finding that we add to the literature body on Islamic finance.