Systematic Review of Literature on Bank Stability

Abstract

This study looked into some fundamental issues surrounding bank stability. 72 peer-reviewed bank stability articles drawn from six databases were reviewed using the Systematic Assessment Quantitative Technique (SQAT) developed by Australian researchers (Catherine Pickering and Jason Antony Byrne). SQAT deals with the methods in which articles in this review were presented. The articles were analyzed into time and geographical distributions, article type, research theories and themes, and data source. A large number of the articles published came from European countries followed by Asia. 69 out of the 72 articles were empirical in nature while 3 were theoretical or opinion in nature. 35.53% adopted regulatory/supervisory framework as a theme, followed by competition-stability or competition-fragility with 25%, measuring bank stability has 22.37%, while diversification with 17.10%. Theoretical work on bank stability should henceforth be encouraged to give more understanding of the subject-matter using other themes for example, income diversification and bank stability, market concentration and bank stability, management strategies, innovations and bank stability since only 22.37% (17) articles and 17.10% (9) articles adopted measuring and diversification as themes. On a general note, there should be a paradigm shift for conceptual framework to give theoretical understanding of bank stability. To the best of the researchers’ knowledge, this study is the first to have reviewed banking system stability using the Systematic Assessment Quantitative Technique (SQAT) developed by Australian researchers (Catherine Pickering and Jason Antony Byrne) for the decade 2011 to 2020. Thus, this review contributes through its methodology to the academic debate and understanding of bank stability in extant literature as it revealed especially, geographical and time gaps in the literature. Therefore, shifting from empirical to theoretical approach as carried out in this study pictured its novelty