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The motivation of the study is to shed further light on the question of whether the governance structure of Islamic banks (IBs) has an impact on the efficiency and risk of Islamic banks operating in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) after the global financial crisis and during the period 2010–2018. This study aims to examine the extent of governance structure on the efficiency and risk of IBs as the effect of the financial crisis has been less on IBs. In addition, the authors are interested in the GCC region as it represents the hub of Islamic finance.

In this study, the authors examine how the banking governance structure affects the risk-taking and performance of IBs in the GCC countries between 2010 and 2018. The authors construct a banking governance index (CGI) composed of sub-indices for the board structure, risk management, transparency and disclosure, audit committee, Sharia supervisory board and investment account holders. Unlike the majority of previous studies, bank performance is measured with technical efficiency scores using a data envelopment analysis and the authors use a comprehensive CGI.

The results show that IBs in GCC countries adhere to 54% of the attributes covered in the CGI. The authors also note a lack of disclosure regarding the investment account holders and the audit committee. As well, the results indicate that bank governance is positively associated with risk-taking and bank efficiency. Banking risk is influenced by the Sharia board and risk management while bank efficiency is affected by the characteristics of the board structure and investment account holders.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that has developed a comprehensive governance index for IBs in GCC countries that includes a wide range of governance dimensions. The study contributes to the literature on governance in the banking sector by simultaneously examining its impact on the risk-taking and efficiency of IBs and recognizes the dynamic relation between these three variables for IB.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether Financial Reporting Quality (FRQ), Corporate Governance and IFRS affect investment efficiency of French listed companies.

Based on a sample of 125 French firms listed on the CAC All Tradable index between 2008 and 2017, the study uses Feasible Generalized Least Squares (FGLS) regressions to examine the relationship between FRQ and firms' investment efficiency.

The findings show that FRQ plays a role in reducing overinvestment and does not affect underinvestment, suggesting that in a code-law country, informal and personal relationships tend to replace the role of financial reports in mitigating information asymmetry. The results also reveal that the relationship between FRQ and investment efficiency increases with better corporate governance and with the implementation of IFRS. However, the results provide no evidence between incentives to minimize profits for tax purposes and firms' underinvestment and continues to be negative for overinvesting companies that have more incentives to manage their earnings for tax purposes.

Our study has some limitations. First, we only examine listed firms, so the results cannot be generalized to unlisted companies that represent the vast majority of French economic activity. Second, this research does not distinguish between government companies and private companies. The two types of companies have different governance mechanisms, financial reporting, disclosure environment and concentration of ownership.

This study suggests that in a code-law country with weak investor protection, FRQ acts as a governance mechanism by mitigating asymmetric information and improving firms' investment decisions.

The relationship between FRQ and investment efficiency has been widely examined for companies in “common law” countries. This study extends the scarce evidence of this relation to companies in a code-law country. It also builds on previous research by introducing new factors never discussed before that could change this relationship, namely corporate governance, IFRS implementation and tax purposes.

The purpose of this study is to examine whether the relationship between asset quality and profitability is linear or nonlinear, using a global dataset containing 2,943 banks from advanced and emerging economies.

The authors use the U-shape test to investigate the existence of a nonlinear relationship between asset quality and profitability. In addition, the dynamic panel generalised method of moments (GMM) and quantile regression are used to examine the nonlinear effect of profitability on nonperforming loans (NPLs).

After controlling for macroeconomic and bank internal factors, the authors find empirical evidence supporting the existence of a nonlinear relationship in the form of a U-shape. This is also confirmed through the three-stage U test procedure. After distinguishing between advanced and emerging economies, the authors also find that, in advanced markets, the credit policy responds more rapidly to changes in credit market conditions than in emerging markets, providing insights into credit market dynamics.

Further research can check the robustness of this study’s findings in different markets and investigate the existence of nonlinearity in other bank variables.

In a nutshell, the results demonstrate potential implications for policymakers who need to carefully monitor banks' lending behaviour to ensure that banks do not lower lending standards. In addition, banking regulators and supervisors should consider the possible nonlinear relationship in their risk assessments and macrostress tests. Further, these results are important for bank managers, who should monitor the performance of their loan portfolios to ensure that their credit officers do not lower credit standards. Likewise, for banks located in an emerging economy, investing in human capital and advanced technologies can enable them to respond more effectively to changes in the credit market.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is considered the first to provide empirical evidence for the nonlinear relationship between asset quality and profitability.