Expansion and profitability of bank branches: a study on selected rural branches of Bangladesh

ABSTRACT

Using probit regression model on primary data, this study reveals that level of educational qualification, value of asset owned and individual’s monthly income, and being married have a positive and significant impact on account opening decision, whereas the value of asset owned, monthly income, number of earning members in the family, and being male and married have a positive and significant impact on the frequency of using banking services in rural area of Bangladesh. Furthermore, fixed effect estimation results on branch-level monthly panel data reveal that branch size, deposit and remittances positively and significantly affects profitability, whereas expense management affects negatively.

KEYWORDS:

• Rural banking
• profitability
• structured questionnaire
• probit
• fixed effect

Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to Prime Bank Ltd. for the partial financial support; Mr Md. Nader Khan, Director of Prime Bank Ltd. for his guidance; Mr Mohsin Ahmad, Mr Iqbal Hosan and other managers/officers of Prime Bank Ltd. for their help in collecting the required financial information; Mr Jamshed, Mr Arif, Mr Juwail, Mr Sayeed and Mr Shafayet for their commendable effort in help filling the questionnaires; unknown reviewers of this journal for their insightful suggestions all of which we believe greatly helped in completing this manuscript. However, the responsibility for any errors and omissions remains our own of course.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Syed Manzur Quader

Syed Manzur Quader is working as an Associate Professor in Financial Economics at Chittagong Independent University Business School (CIUBS) and director of the Institute of Governance, Development, and International Studies (IGDIS). Earlier, Dr. Quader completed his PhD in Economics from the University of Sheffield, UK in 2013; MSc in Financial and Business Economics with distinction from the University of Essex, UK in 2005 and graduation in Economics from the University of Dhaka in 2003 with first class honors. Dr. Quader’s primary research interest lies in the financial and industrial economics and related issues associated with corporate efficiency, investment and growth.

Nahin Israt Shamsi

Nahin Israt Shamsi is an Adjunct Lecturer in the Chittagong Independent University Business School (CIUBS), where she has been working since January 2019. Before that, she was appointed as a Research Assistant under the Institute of Governance, Development, and International Studies (IGDIS) in June 2018. She holds a BBA and MBA degrees, major in Finance from Independent University Bangladesh and Chittagong Independent University respectively. She was awarded Magna Cum Laude in BBA and Summa Cum Laude in MBA. Her research interests include corporate finance, firms' capital structure, financial market and financial performance.

Mohammad Nayeem Abdullah

Dr. Mohammad Nayeem Abdullah is an Associate Professor and Dean of Chittagong Independent University Business School (CIUBS). He is also currently discharging the responsibility as Special Advisor to the Finance & Accounts Department of CIU. He obtained his PhD Degree in Finance from University of Chittagong (CU) under HEQEP Funding. He completed his Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) Degree in Finance & Banking from Assumption University, Thailand with Magna Cum Laude in 2005 and Master of Science (M.Sc.) Degree in Finance and Management from University of Exeter, UK in 2006. Prior to joining CIU he was a Lecturer in the School of Business of Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB). He has research interests in dividend policy, corporate finance, corporate governance etc.