Financial Market Development and Bank Capitalization Ratio

Abstract

Financial sector liberalization in many African countries, set in a series of financial sector reforms, aimed at developing the system. Theoretically, reforms that develop the banking sector are expected to improve banks’ performance and reduce excessive bank-risk taking by enhancing bank capital ratio in addition to maintain the stability in the system. Nonetheless, literature also shows that the health of the financial system may be at risk following a liberalization process in the form of contagion effects of financial markets integration. A recent example is the global 2007/2008 global financial crisis. Against this background, this article examines the extent to which banking sector development in selected African countries affect the commercial banks’ capitalization ratio. Employing a dynamic panel regression technique for the examination while controlling for bank-specific and macroeconomic factors over the period 2000–2014, this article finds that banking sector development in the selected countries improves bank capital ratio consistent with the aims of banking sector reforms and the maintenance of stable financial system.