The Impact of Ownership Structure and Dividend Pay-out on Financial Performance: Evidence from GCC Banking Sector

Abstract

This paper examined the impact of Ownership Structure and Dividend pay-out on bank financial performance for the top 10 listed banks in GCC countries from 2009 to 2020 (Post CRISIS). This study applies the ordinary least square (OLS) technique to estimate the panel data regression. The findings suggest a positive and significant impact of ownership structure on the performance of banks. It also shows that the association between dividend payout and bank performance is positive. The findings indicate that market participants' awareness about the value of strong ownership structure measures has grown over time. This leads to greater adoption of those measures by shareholders which indeed influences a bank’s performance.