No abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide preliminary efficiency assessment of Arab microfinance institutions (MFIs) within the period 2002–2012. Microfinance is defined as the provision of financial services to poor and low-income households and their microenterprises on a sustainable basis. Design/methodology/approach The authors first present the main features of microfinance in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Second, based on a simple of 72 microfinance institutions issued from ten countries of the region, they develop a bootstrap–data envelopment analysis (bootstrap–DEA) framework to measure Arab MFIs’ efficiency. Finally, they apply parametric and non-parametric tests to compare the performance and identify factors that contribute to the efficiency of Arab Islamic microfinance institutions. Findings Efficiency scores of the MENA region exhibit high variability, both across time and countries. Significant difference in efficiency was found due to MFI age or regulation. Results also reveal the ability of Arab MFIs to combine social and financial performance and their solidity in time of crisis. Originality/value In this paper, the authors apply DEA–bootstrap method on a large sample of Arab MFI with special look at the peer group differences. Unlike most previous relevant studies, the paper overcomes many of the drawbacks of the DEA method by using, in addition to the DEA–bootstrap approach, a test of return to scale and a combination of three procedures to detect outliers. Furthermore, this paper analyses the efficiency of MFI in the MENA region in the light of financial crises and Arab Spring.

No abstract

No abstract

This paper analyses the relationship between bank capital, risk and profitability for the BRICS banking industry data from 2004 to 2012. We use a dynamic panel data model based on two-step GMM estimation procedure. For the sake of analysis, we differentiate between before and after crisis periods in order to highlight the impact of financial crisis on clearing up the above relationship. The main empirical results are summarised as follows: 1) capital and risk are significantly and negatively related, while capital and profitability are significantly and positively linked; 2) bank capital has the greatest positive impact on ROE measure of profitability for investment banks; 3) BRICS investment banks are likely associated with a more sound financial supervision and technology; 4) regulatory quality and institutional developments are dependent upon differences in profitability and risk; 5) Results also provide evidence that financial crisis affects considerably the relationship between capital, risk and profitability. 90W. Ben Jabra et al.