Profitability and Liquidity of Conventional Banking and Islamic Banking in Bangladesh: A Comparative Study

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine and evaluate the profitability and liquidity of a group of 5 Conventional banks in Bangladesh with a group of 5 Bangladeshi Islamic banks. The study evaluates the profitability and liquidity of two types of banking system in Bangladesh for the period of 2008 to 2012. Different financial ratios i.e. Return on Asset (ROA), Return on Equity (ROE), Profit Expense Ratio (PER), Net Profit Margin (NPM), Earnings per Share (EPS), Profit per branch, Profit per employee have been used for evaluating profitability and Loan to Deposit ratio (LDR), Loan to Assets ratio (LAR) are used for evaluating liquidity of these 2 categories  banks. T-test and F-test have been used in determining the significance of the differential performance of the two groups of bank. The study found that Islamic Banks are less preferable than Conventional banks in the year 2008 and 2009 in all the profitability indicators. In 2010, Conventional banks had been more profitable than Islamic banks except ROE, PER. In 2011 and 2012, Islamic banks’ profitability performance is better than that of Conventional banks in the performance indicators except EPS, Profit per Branch and Profit per Employee. However, there is no significant difference in liquidity between the two sets of banks. LAR had been constantly higher in Islamic banks in all the years though LDR had not been higher during the same period. In 2010 and 2011, Conventional Banks’ LDR is higher than the Islamic Bank. The reasons are that conventional banks in Bangladesh have longer history and experience in doing banking business and hold dominating position in the financial sector with its large share in the overall financial assets of Bangladesh as compared to Islamic banks, which in true sense, started only a few years back with all letter and spirit. The study also found that Islamic Banks are less profitable having less liquidity position during 2008-2012. However, it had improved considerably in its profitability during 2011 and 2012.

Key Words: Profitability, Liquidity, Conventional Banking, Islamic Banking.