Determinants of the performance of Japanese financial institutions in Australia 1987-1992

This paper constructs a model that attempts to explain the performance of Japanese financial institutions in Australia. In general the model proposed performs well for size measures, but comparatively poorly for measures of profitability. Size, as measured by home country equity, was found to increase both Australian assets and Australian profitability. Institutional features in both Australia and Japan were found to have their greatest impact upon size measures. Net interest margin differences were found to have no significant relationship with any performance measure used. However, the results are not sufficiently conclusive to produce a definitive model to explain the performance of foreign-owned banks in Australia.