Political risk and bank stability in the Middle East and North Africa region

This paper examines the relationship between political risk and bank stability in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. We find that political risk is adversely associated with bank stability, generally supporting the financial fragility hypothesis. The analysis suggests that political risk differentially influences the level of stability of conventional and Islamic banks. Political risk has a less detrimental effect on the riskiness of Islamic banks compared with conventional banks. Our analysis also suggests that Islamic banks in the Gulf Cooperative Council (GCC) sub-region are less exposed to political risk compared with those operating in the non-GCC countries (other countries in the MENA region outside of the GCC sub-region).