Comparative study on board structure and performance between domestic and foreign banks in Malaysia

Abstract

This study examines the performance of domestic and foreign banks with regards to the relationship between the board structure and their financial performance in Malaysia. The sample consists of 8 domestic banks and 16 foreign banks in Malaysia from 2012 to 2016.The board structures are board size (BS) and proportion of independent director (ID) as an independent variables and firm size as the control variable. Meanwhile, the performance is measured by four ratios, liquidity (current ratio), profitability (return on assets), risk and solvency (loan to deposit ratio) and efficiency performance (asset utilization ratio). The findings reveal that the board size is proved to be significant relationship with return on assets (ROA) as well as loan to deposit ratio (LDR) for both domestic and foreign banks but insignificant with the other ratios of both the domestic and foreign banks. Apart from that, independent director proportion showed an insignificant influence on financial performance with four financial ratios for both domestic and foreign banks. This study suggests that both domestic and foreign banks do have difference in terms of financial performance, domestic banks perform better than foreign banks in terms of generating good return on assets and loan to deposits ratio however foreign banks perform far better in terms of level of liquidity of the banks as compared to domestic banks.