Abstract

This study attempts to investigate capital strength, credit risk, ownership structure, bank size, non-interest income, cost efficiency, off-balance sheet activities, liquidity as potential bank specific determinants as well as growth in gross domestic products, inflation as potential macroeconomic determinants of bank profitability by taking 25 commercial banks from Bangladesh for a period ranges from 2006 to 2013. Three different measures of profitability namely return on assets (ROA), net interest margin over total assets (NIM) and return on equity (ROE) are used in the study. The empirical findings suggest that capital strength (both regulatory capital and equity capital) and loan intensity has positive and significant impact on profitability. Results also show that cost efficiency and off-balance sheet activities have negative and significant impact on bank profitability. The impact of other variables is not uniform in respect of different measures of profitability. Non-interest income, credit risk and GGDP are found as important determinant for NIM. Size has a positive and significant impact on ROA. Finally inflation has a negative and significant impact on ROA and ROE.

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