THE EFFICIENCY OF CONVENTIONAL AND ISLAMIC BANKS IN BAHRAIN: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Abstract

This paper examines the comparative efficiency of Islamic banks and conventional commercial banks in Bahrain during the period 2005–2011 with respect to profitability. Eight financial ratios are used in measuring this performance.

Applying Student’s t-test to financial ratios for Islamic and conventional commercial banks in Malaysia for the period 2005-2011, the paper concludes that there is a major difference in performance between Islamic and conventional banks with respect to profitability ratios (The Return On Assets (ROA), the Return On Equity (ROE), the cost / income ratio (COSR), the size of the bank (BS), the Profit expense ratio (PER), the Net interest margin (NIM), The Non-interest income to total income (NII) and the Earning per share (EPS)).