Exploring the Linkage between Profits and Asset–Liability Management

The article uses panel data regression on a sample of 26 public sector and 20 private sector banks operating in India over the period 2004–2005 to 2012–2013 in order to empirically examine the relationship between profits and asset–liability (A–L) composition of Indian banks. The sample was initially split into public sector and private sector banks. Earning before tax (EBT) of public sector banks appear to be generated by all the assets under the asset portfolio while, in private sector banks, the EBT seems to be produced by loans and advances and deposits and placings to banks. From liabilities’ perspective, the ‘short-term funding’ appears to be the cheapest for both the bank groups. The sample was then split into high-profit and low-profit banks. The results show that, compared to the high-profit banks, low-profit banks experience higher rate of return on loans and advances, investments and fixed assets. The study does not find that high-profit banks always enjoy relatively cheaper cost of funding than low-profit banks.