Factors affecting bank governance in Malaysia

Since the financial crisis in year 1997, banks in Malaysia had undergone various issues and transformations, including stricter regulation on merger and acquisitions and greater enforcement of corporate governance. Besides that, the institutions had also gone through the transformation in terms of the risk assessment practice due to the stricter rulings under Basel II regulations. Taking into account of these changes, this study empirically examines the effects of corporate governance, risk and capital on the performance of banks in Malaysia. Based on 132 firm-year samples for the period of 2004-2009, study indicates a significant and negative relationship between bank risks and performance. It further reveals that the risk weighted capital (RRWC) improves bank performance. However none of the corporate governance variables have any associations with banks performance. The detail explanations of the findings along with the suggestions for future research are provided in the full text of the report