The Effects of Bank Regulations, Competition, and Financial Reforms on Banks’ Performance

In this paper, we examine the influence of bank regulation, concentration, and financial and institutional development on commercial bank margins and profitability across a broad selection of Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries. The empirical results suggest that bank-specific characteristics, in particular bank capitalization and credit risk, have a positive and significant impact on banks' net interest margin, cost efficiency, and profitability. Also we find that macroeconomic and financial development indicators have no significant impact on net interest margins, except for inflation. Regulatory and institutional variables seem to have an impact on bank performance.