Purpose – This paper aims to examine the effect of capital structure on Islamic banks’ (IBs) performance to provide guidance to finance managers for raising capital funds. As newcomers to the markets, IBs are facing a trade-off. They can either use high capital ratios which increase the soundness and safety of the bank and lower the required return by investors, or depend on deposits and Islamic bonds which are considered cheaper sources of funds due to their tax rebate. An IB’s management must carefully decide the appropriate mix of debt and equity, i.e. capital structure, to maximize the value of the bank. Design/methodology/approach – Using a sample of 85 IBs covering banking systems in 19 countries, the study uses a two-stage least squares method to examine the performance determinants of IBs to control the reverse causality from performance to capital structure. Findings – After control of the macroeconomic environment, financial market structure and taxation, results indicate that IBs’ performance (profitability) responds positively to an increase in equity (capital ratio). The result is consistent with the signaling theory which predicts that banks expected to have better performance credibly transmit this information through higher capital. Optimal capital structure results of the IBs found a non-monotonic U-shaped relationship between the capital-asset ratio and profitability, supporting the efficiency risk and franchise value hypotheses. Research limitations/implications – Due to limitations for market data, the study uses book accounting ratios. Future research where market data are available could use performance measures, such as Tobin’s Q in performance determinants models. Practical implications – The non-monotonic relationship found between IBs’ return on equity and capital ratios suggests that equity issuances for IBs’ with low capital ratios (lower than the turning point of 37.41 per cent) are expensive and have a negative effect on their profitability. On the other hand, managers of well-capitalized IBs (banks with capital ratios beyond 37.41 per cent) are advised to rely on equity when faced by a decision to raise capital, as the capital ratio starts to affect their profitability positively. Originality/value – Islamic banking literature has been silent on IBs’ capital structure and its relevance; this study will try to fill in the existent gap.

Purpose This paper aims to identify the factors that affect dividend payments for Saudi Arabian Islamic and conventional banks and to test whether the factors that affect Islamic banks’ dividend policy differ from the factors affecting conventional banks’ dividends. Design/methodology/approach Panel regression was run on data for six Islamic banks and six conventional banks. Findings The paper found that profitability, lagged dividends and leverage are all significant determinants of Islamic Banks’ dividend policy. Lintner’s (1956) model applies to Islamic bank’s dividend policy, as Islamic banks who payout dividends commit to their payments. All factors included in the study (profitability, liquidity, leverage, growth and lagged dividend) are found to be significant determinants of conventional banks’ dividend payments. Research limitations/implications Future research should include ownership variables in the regression to test the agency theory regarding dividends. Ownership variables were not included in the study because of data availability issues. Practical implications The results of this study have practical implications for analysts, investors and regulators. For Islamic banks to compete in the local and global deposit markets, their management must carefully decide upon their dividend policy. As conventional banks are distributing stable dividends, it is time for Islamic banks to plan for a stable dividend policy to send positive signals to the market. As newcomers to the market Islamic banks should avoid spontaneous and inconsistent dividend distributions that do not carry any signals to the market. It will be difficult for Islamic banks to raise capital or attract investors because of their lower dividend yields compared to conventional banks. Boards of directors of Islamic banks should use dividends as an agency monitoring device; large-scale retention of earnings encourages behaviour by managers that does not maximize shareholder value. Dividends, then, are a valuable financial tool for these firms because they help firms avoid asset/capital structures that give managers wide discretion to make value-reducing investments. Originality/value This is the first study – up to the author’s knowledge – to investigate the financial institutions (banks) dividend policy in Saudi Arabia.

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of a focus loan strategy on Islamic banks’ (IB) performance in three areas: sectoral, geographic and the type of Islamic instrument. This paper specifically addresses two questions. First, should IBs focus or diversify their loan portfolios? Second, how does focus in lending affect IBs’ returns and risk? Design/methodology/approach The panel generalized linear squared method was used for regressions throughout the paper. Data used in the analysis were extracted from IBs’ publicly available regulatory reports in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. The sample is an unbalanced panel that includes financial data on 26 banks during the period 2010–2018. Findings Focusing on Islamic instruments and economic sectors would harm IBs’ profitability while reducing their risks. Geographic focus increased the profitability of IBs, but it also increased their default risk. The focus in Islamic instruments was beneficial when risk is low to moderate, but when the risk of an IB increased, it was better to diversify across Islamic instruments. Focus in geographical areas, on the other hand, had a non-linear U-shaped relationship with return, which means that when IBs’ risk is high, focusing their loans in one geographic area enhances their returns. Originality/value This paper fills the existing gap in Islamic banking literature regarding the focus/diversification dilemma. It is the first attempt to study the effect of focus in three areas (sectoral, geographic and instrument used) on the return and risk of IBs.