Effects of Internal Governance Indicators on Performance of Commercial Banks in Pakistan

The major objective of the paper is to explore the effects of internal governance indicators on performance of listed commercial banks in Pakistan during 2004-2013. Multiple regression analysis is used to estimate the relationship between internal governance indicators (i.e. board size, board composition, CEO duality, managerial ownership, institutional ownership, and ownership concentration) and performance measures (i.e. ROA, ROE, EPS and MBR). Regression results show that that board size is significant and positively related to ROA, ROE and MBR. Notably, board composition is positively related to ROA, ROE and EPS while negatively related to MBR. CEO duality and managerial ownership are significant and positively related to EPS. Institutional ownership is significant and positively related to ROE and EPS. Finally, ownership concentration is negatively related to EPS. Leverage is inversely while bank size is positively related to ROA, ROE and EPS. Finally, loan ratio is positively related to ROA and MBR. In sum, despite weak corporate governance in the country internal governance indicators still have substantial effects on performance