Corporate governance in Lebanese banks: focus on board of directors

The Impact of Corporate Governance and Political Connectedness on the Financial Performance of Lebanese Banks during the Financial Crisis of 2019–2021

“…The result of political connection variables shows that the implication of politicians in the bank as shareholders or executive members is increases in the level of engagement in risky lending activities. Kchouri (2016) failed to empirically verify the influence of political connectedness on bank performance during non-crisis periods, while we found increased risk due to administrative political connectedness and ownership political connectedness. Finally, the result of Model 6 demonstrates that only the size of banks, besides the existence of an efficient risk management (RC) committees (RO), has a marginally positive impact on the capital adequacy ratio of Lebanese banks for the period of 2016-2021.…”

“…The only other contemporary study (El-Chaarani et al 2022b) focused on the COVID-19 lockdown period, with a sample that includes banks in other MENA countries, so it does not address the Lebanese crisis directly. A search on corporate governance in Lebanese banks yielded a single study, that of Kchouri (2016), which used 18 corporate governance attributes to evaluate the usage of corporate governance in Lebanese banks from 2011-2015. Results were inconclusive, as the corporate governance system had weak legal protection and lack of transparency.…”

“…Results were inconclusive, as the corporate governance system had weak legal protection and lack of transparency. Kchouri (2016) concluded that there was no empirical evidence that corporate governance influenced bank performance among Lebanese banks. The first objective of this study is to close the research gap of the lack of empirical findings of the impact of corporate governance mechanisms on bank performance.…”