Determinants of Bank Profitability: Evidence from Syria

This study investigates the determinants of bank profitability in the Syrian banking sector. It seeks to identify significant bank-specific, industry-specific, and macroeconomic determinants of bank profitability in Syria. We utilize the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) technique on unbalanced panel data set the covers the period from 2004 until 2011. The empirical results reveal that profitability persists to a moderate extent. All bank-specific determinants (liquidity risk, credit risk, bank size, and management efficiency) with the exception of bank capital, affect bank profitability significantly. However, no evidence was found in support of the Structure Conduct Performance (SCP) hypothesis, since the concentration ratio found to have no impact on bank profitability. Finally, the study shows that macroeconomic variables (inflation rate and real gross domestic product growth rate) affect bank profitability significantly.