Determinants of Banks’ Profitability: Panel Data from Qatar

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to investigate the main determinants of banks’ profitability and answer the question “what is the effect of liquidity and risk variables on the explained variation of banks’ performance in Qatar?” Design/methodology/approach: A sample of six major lender banks for the period 2008-2015 is retrieved from the worldwide bankscope database. The dependent variable “Return on Average Assets (ROAA)” is taken as a function of independent variables that are basically liquidity and risk variables. Findings: Findings of this study show that variation in the independent variable “Total Capital Ratio %” positively and significantly affects the explained variation in performance of banks in Qatar measured by “ROAA”, while variation in “Cost to Income Ratio”, negatively and significantly impacts the variation in performance of banks in Qatar. At the same time, variation in “Reserves for impaired Loans/A nonperforming loan (NPL)” and variation in “Loan to Assets Ratio” significantly and negatively affect ROAA of banks in Qatar. Practical implications: It is recommended to replicate the findings of this study in each of the other GCC country before building an econometric model to cluster the GCC banks into homogeneous segments. Originality: The research problem is based on review of literature and investigation in a novel way using EViews 9 and Panel Data.