An assessment of the financial soundness of the Kazakh banks

PurposeThe contribution of the banking industry to the financial crisis of 2007/8 has raised public concerns about the financial soundness of banks around the world with many countries still suffering the backlogs of this crisis. The continuous emergence of such crises at both national and international levels increases governments', bank regulators' and financial market participants' need for reliable tools to assess the financial soundness of banks. In this context, this study investigates the financial soundness of the Kazakh banking sector, which is ranked by the World Bank as the first in the world in terms of the percentage of nonperforming loans (NPL) to total gross loans in 2012.Design/methodology/approachUsing data about all Kazakh banks over the period January 01, 2008 to January 01, 2014, the study identifies a number of accounting indicators that influence the financial soundness of banks using principal component analysis (PCA). Then, it uses the outcomes of the PCA in a cluster analysis and groups the Kazakh banks into sound, risky and unsound banks at two points in time: January 01, 2008 and January 01, 2014. This methodology was further tested against a ranking system of banks and proved to be more reliable in detecting risky banks.FindingsFifteen financial ratios were initially selected as accounting indicators for the assessment of bank financial soundness. Using PCA, twelve indicators were isolated, which explain five principal components of capital adequacy, return on assets, profitability, asset quality, liquidity and leverage. Then using the “k-means” method, the results suggest a structure of the Kazakh banking sector on January 01, 2008 that includes two groups of banks: sound and risky banks. On January 01, 2014, this structure of the banking system has changed to include three groups of banks: sound, risky and unsound banks. Thus, in 2014 a new group of banks has emerged, i.e. financially unsound banks.Practical implicationsThe proposed cluster-based methodology has proven to be a reliable tool to detect the financial soundness of Kazakh banks, which makes us advocate its employability for bank monitoring and supervision purposes.Originality/valueThis study is the first to employ a cluster-based methodology to assess the financial soundness of a banking sector. This methodology can be used at a micro-level to determine the structure of a banking sector. Also, it can be used to monitor any changes in the structure of a banking sector and provide early warning signals about the financial health of banks.

Does Institutional Ownership and Bank Monitoring Affect Agency Conflicts? Evidence from an Emerging Market

Introduction/Main Objectives: This study examines the effect of institutional ownership, proxied by government and private ownership, and bank monitoring on agency conflicts. Background Problems: The previous literature focused on agency conflicts, particularly those between managers and shareholders in developed markets, with much less evidence being presented from emerging ones. Novelty: We consider the role of creditors (the banks) in mitigating agency conflicts, and the managers’ irresponsible behavior, which in previous studies has been largely under-elaborated. Research Methods: Using 1,525 observations of 305 non-financial companies that were listed in the 2011-2015 period, we employ the generalized least squares method to deal with potential econometric concern such as autocorrelation and heteroscedasticity. Finding/Results: We find that institutional ownership and bank monitoring, proxied by the number of banks and the share of their loans, are negatively related to agency conflicts. Conclusion: Banks and institutional ownership lead to lower agency conflicts. However, one should mitigate free-rider problems emanated from these relationships.