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Title:	Competition, market structure and efficiency in the banking sector : a panel evidence of Jordan and the gulf cooperation council countries
Authors:	Gasaymeh Anwar Salameh (P55535)
Supervisor:	Mariani Abdul Majid, Professor Dr.
Keywords:	Banks and banking-Middle East.
Issue Date:	12-Feb-2014
Description:	This thesis comprises three empirical essays that evaluate the level of competition, market structures and efficiency of the banking sector in Jordan and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries (GCC). It is drawn from a sample of 90 commercial banks, encompassing a time span from 2003-2010. The GCC intends to form a union in the near future. The formation of a union between the GCC and Jordan is expected to achieve a higher level of competitiveness and efficiency in the global arena. Although there are a few studies on banking efficiency on the region, they have not comprehensively considered new factors and the dynamic environment. Economic freedom and country risks are emerging factors, which could influence the performance of banks in terms of minimizing costs and increasing efficiency. Previous studies disregarded the advent of technological changes that occurred in the late 1990s. It is therefore crucial for the government of Jordan and the GCC to consider these new factors that could affect banking efficiency. The first paper (in chapter 3) reexamine the level of competition of the Jordanian banking sector in relative to the GCC, by adopting the Panzar and Rosse (1987) methodology. The results indicate that banks in Jordan and in the GCC countries have generated revenue in a monopolistic competitive environment. The findings reflect the critical role of the expected union among the countries under study, with regard to increasing competition in the banking sector. The second paper (in chapter 4) employ SFA to estimate a cost function for the potential union countries i.e. GCC and Jordan and hence efficiencies. In estimating a common frontier, we employ economic freedom, country risk, macroeconomic condition, bank accessibility and bank structure to control for country-specific differences as well as to determine the impact of these factors on bank costs for the potential union countries. The findings show that economic freedom particularly, corruption freedom, labor freedom and investment freedom is associated with low banking costs. However, no links were evident between country risks and bank costs. Therefore, it is crucial for the authority and policy makers in Jordan and GCC countries to enhance economic freedom in order to have a successful union to build a similar economic environment, reducing bank cost and attract more investments to create a viable banking system. The third paper (in chapter 5) test the influence of economic freedom, country risk and competition level on efficiency of the potential GCC union countries by employing the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) technique in a dynamic panel data. The results show that economic freedom, country risk and bank competition are positively influence bank efficiencies. Moreover, banks in countries with high economic freedom, low country risk, and high competition levels tend to perform more efficiently. It is therefore, important for policy makers in the potential GCC union countries to promote economic freedom, decrease country risk and increase competition in order to have higher banking efficiency.,Ph.D
Pages:	117
Call Number:	HG3256 .G347 2014
Publisher:	UKM, Bangi
Appears in Collections:	Faculty of Economy and Management / Fakulti Ekonomi dan Pengurusan

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