Global Economic Policy Uncertainty And Banks' Profitability: Evidence From Vietnamese Commercial Banks
Abstract
The Economic Policy Uncertainty (EPU) Index is a key metric that found to
have an impact on some corporate decisions. In this study, I investigate the influence of
global EPU on profitability of all Vietnamese commercial banks listed in the Ho Chi Minh
Stock Exchange and the Hanoi Stock Exchange. Inflation and bank-specific characteristics
(liquidity, bank size, capital adequacy, asset quality, credit risk, and operational efficiency)
are also examined as control variables to see whether global EPU is still a significant factor
affecting bank profitability or its effect is subsumed by bank-specific factors. Using data
from 2010 to 2020 gathered from the Thomson Reuters EIKON database and the three
regression models (Pooled OLS, Fixed Effect, and Random Effect), the results suggest that
the world wide EPU index has an adverse effect on banks’ profitability. For other factors,
liquidity, bank size, capital adequacy, asset quality, credit risk and inflation are variables
that have a positive relationship with the profitability of banks while operational efficiency
has been found to have a negative impact.