Purpose This paper examines the effect of intellectual capital on bank productivity in an emerging market in Africa. Design/methodology/approach The Malmquist Productivity Index is employed to estimate productivity growth of 18 banks in Ghana from 2003 to 2011 while the Value Added Intellectual Coefficient is used to measure bank intellectual capital performance. The panel-corrected standard errors estimation technique is used to estimate a panel regression model with Malmquist Productivity Index as the dependent variable. Bank market concentration and bank size are controlled for in the regression analysis. Findings We find productivity growth to be largely driven by efficiency changes compared to technological changes. The results from the regression analysis indicate that Value Added Intellectual Coefficient has a positive effect on the productivity of banks in Ghana. We also find human capital efficiency and capital employed efficiency as the components of Value Added Intellectual Coefficient that drive productivity growth in the banking industry. Bank size and industry concentration are also identified as significant drivers of productivity in the market. Practical implications The study’s findings support investments in intellectual capital as a means of improving the performance of banks in emerging markets Originality/value To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to empirically examine the relationship between intellectual capital and productivity in an emerging banking market in Africa.

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between intellectual capital (IC) and profitability of insurance companies in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach Data on 36 life and non-life insurance companies from 2007 to 2011 are employed to estimate the value added intellectual coefficient of Pulic (2004, 2008). Using return on assets and underwriting profit as indicators of profitability, the ordinary least squares panel corrected standard errors of Beck and Katz (2005) is used in estimating the relationship in the presence of serial correlation and heteroskedasticity. Leverage, underwriting risk and insurers’ size are used as control variables. Findings Non-life insurers have high IC performance comparative to life insurers. This study finds a significant positive relationship between IC and profitability of insurers in Ghana while human capital efficiency is the main driver of insurers’ IC performance. Practical implications The study discusses relevance of IC for management of insurance companies in Ghana and other emerging insurance markets in Africa. Originality/value This appears to be the first study to examine the impact of IC on profitability of a developing insurance market in Africa.