Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the association among operational risk incidents, corporate governance, credit risk and firm performance. Design/methodology/approach First, the authors regress corporate credit risk on the incurrence of operating losses (driven by operational risk events) and corporate governance variables. The purpose is to test the correlation between operational risk, corporate governance and credit risk. Second, in the authors’ next regression, the authors’ dependent variable is firm performance, and the independent variable is operational risk and corporate governance to test the correlation between operational risk, corporate governance and firm performance. In this study, the authors measure corporate governance using four surrogates, focusing on CEO duality, extent of independent board members, extent of foreign ownership and board member presence ratio. Findings The authors’ findings indicate that the higher level of operational risk incidents is linked to higher likelihood of credit default and to poorer performance. More importantly, the authors find that higher-quality corporate governance is associated with lower levels of operational risk incidents, better performance and lower likelihood of credit fault. Originality/value The authors use a rigid theoretical and empirical framework to examine the association among the incidents of operational risk, credit risk, corporate governance and firm performance. The authors’ study is important because it first facilitates understanding of causes leading to operational risk, and second if and how greater financial effects of operational risk negatively influences operating performance and credit risk of nonfinancial institutions in emerging markets.

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