Title: Developments in the profitability of the Thailand banking sector: panel evidence from the post Asian crisis period

Authors: Fadzlan Sufian

Addresses: Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia; Khazanah Research and Investment Strategy, Khazanah Nasional Berhad, Level 35, Tower 2, Petronas Twin Towers, Kuala Lumpur City Centre, 50088 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Abstract: The present paper employs various commonly used accounting based measures of financial institutions performance and examines the developments in the Thailand banking sector|s profitability during the post Asian financial crisis period of 1999-2005. The empirical findings suggest that bank specific characteristics, in particular size and capitalisation exhibits positive and significant impacts on Thailand banks| profitability, while credit risk, non-interest income, and overhead costs have negative relationship with bank profitability. The results suggest that credit risk has negative impact on return on assets, while the opposite is true for return on equity. As for the impact of macroeconomic indicators, we find that higher economic growth and inflation contributes positively to Thailand banks| profitability, while per capita GDP has a negative impact.

Keywords: Thai banks; bank profitability; multivariate regression analysis; Thailand; banking sector; accounting measures; financial performance; bank size; capitalisation; credit risk; non-interest income; overhead costs; economic growth; inflation; per capita GDP.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEA.2010.033907

International Journal of Economics and Accounting, 2010 Vol.1 No.1/2, pp.161 - 179

Published online: 03 Jul 2010 *

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