Shareholding structure and profitability of banks in the CEMAC

The objective of this paper is to analyze the sensitivity of bank profitability to ownership structure in the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) subregion. Using panel data econometrics we construct a panel of 6 individuals over a period of 9 years following Loukil and Chaaban (2006) and Mamoghli and Douhibi (2007). The results obtained show that the involvement of the State in the social capital of banks in this sub-region and the size of the sector have a negative relationship with bank profitability. On the other hand the presence of foreigners in the share capital the risk index the capitalization ratio and the ratio of equity to total assets are positively correlated with the profitability of banks in the CEMAC region. In view of these results we recommend mainly the total or progressive disengagement of the State from the capital stock of banks and the increase of bank credits for the financing of the economy in order to mobilize excess liquidity.