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23 Eur. J.L. & Econ. 1 (2007)

handle is hein.journals/eurjlwec23 and id is 1 raw text is: Eur J Law Econ (2007) 23:1-27
DOI 10.1007/s10657-007-9001-2
The effect of board size and composition on European
bank performance
Panagiotis K. Staikouras - Christos K. Staikouras
Maria-Eleni K. Agoraki
Published online: 15 May 2007
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007
Abstract Banks are special financial institutions generating distinct corporate
governance challenges. The present paper examines the relationship between two of
the most pertinent corporate governance factors-that is, the size of the Board of
Directors and the proportion of non-executive directors-and firm performance on a
sample of 58 large European banks over the period 2002-2004. The empirical
analysis embraces a number of bank-specific variables. Our results reveal that bank
profitability is negatively related to the size of the Board of Directors, while the
impact of Board composition, although positive in all models, is, in most cases,
insignificant. The results are robust after controlling for firm-specific variables.
Keywords Corporate governance Bank performance Board size
Board composition
JEL Classification  G21 G34 L25 K20
1 Introduction
Over recent years, corporate governance has become a major and highly contentious
issue in all advanced economies, as well as in developing countries. Spurred by a
wave of corporate scandals mainly owed to self-dealing, fraud and poor quality
management decision-making, corporate governance has attracted international
attention as a means to address the separation of ownership and control (or
agency) problem in public companies, thus promoting corporate efficiency.
P. K. Staikouras (E)
Department of Banking and Financial Management, University of Piraeus,
80 Karaoli & Dimitriou Street, 18534 Piraeus, Greece
e-mail: pstaik@unipi.gr
C. K. Staikouras - M.-E. K. Agoraki
Department of Accounting and Finance, Athens University of Economics
and Business, Athens, Greece
4_ Springer

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