Effects of banking regulations on banking performance: The case of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Turkey

One of the important sectors of financial markets is the banking sector. For this reason, the banking sector is one of the sectors that dominate the market in terms of its effects. One of the most important factors expected to affect the sector is the banking regulations put into practice by regulatory authorities and policy makers. By minimizing risks, banking regulations ensure continuity in performance improvement and stability of financial markets. In this context, it is important to examine the effects of banking regulations on the performance of the banking sector. In this study, it is aimed to evaluate the effects of banking regulations on the performance of the banking sector. In the study, the effects of the main banking regulation indicators, which are determined as capital adequacy, liquidity and total provisions, on the z-score, which is a performance indicator that measures the return on assets, return on equity and bankruptcy risk, which are among the banking performance indicators, were examined. The generalized moment method was applied with the annual data of the banking sectors of Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Turkey, which have different development levels, for the 2010-2019 periods. In the literature review, it is observed that banking regulations have positive and negative consequences for countries with different levels of development. For this reason, it is foreseen that the regulations to be made by the regulatory authorities and lawmakers, taking into account the country and sector differences, will be more beneficial. According to the results obtained from the study, the effect of capital adequacy, which is one of the most important indicators of regulations, on banking performance was significant and positive in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. This shows that although the development levels and sector performances of the regulations are different, the effects on the banking performance are generally positive for the countries.