Does corporate governance matter in the failures of listed home-grown banks

Abstract

Building on corporate governance-failure literature, this study fills a void in the current literature by examining how corporate governance issues can cause business failures of home-grown listed banks. Employing the case of the failure of a listed local bank in Ghana - UT Bank, we found that, although the bank recognised best practices in corporate governance as a prevailing framework to promote efficiency, transparency, accountability, and integrity, these principles were continuously violated and ignored, culminating in the demise of the business. In addition to this, early warning signals were also ignored. Specifically, UT's independent directors failed to think and act independently in the interest of the bank and its depositors. The managerial, policy and research implications are examined.