Title: Ownership structure and bank risk-taking: evidence from Tunisian banks

Authors: Younes Boujelbene, Nabila Zribi

Addresses: Higher Institute of Business Administration of Sfax, Route de l'Aeroport km 4 – B.P. no. 1013-3018 Sfax, Unit of Research in Applied Economy, Sfax, Tunisia. ' Faculty of Economics and Management of Sfax, Route de l'Aeroport km 4 – B.P. no. 1088-3018 Sfax, Unit of Research in Applied Economy, Sfax, Tunisia

Abstract: The majority of previous studies have been limited to the study of the insertion of the aspects of ownership structure in the corporate governance of companies without worrying about the incidence of this mechanism on the bank risk-taking. This paper examines the relationship between ownership structure and bank risk-taking over the period 1999-2006 in Tunisia, being an emergent country. We find that the degree of ownership concentration and the identities of proprietors have a relatively strong effect on risk-taking behaviour. The results also indicate that the decision of bank risk-taking is related to other factors such as the bank|s size and debts.

Keywords: ownership structure; banking; risk taking; Tunisian banks; Tunisia; bank size; debts.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCG.2009.029369

International Journal of Corporate Governance, 2009 Vol.1 No.3, pp.259 - 270

Published online: 28 Nov 2009 *

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