The current decline in oil prices has had a negative impact on the banking industry across Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and Bahrain is no exception. Over the last three years, Bahrain has been going through significant liquidity pressure, leading to the shrinking of bank liquidity, thus inducing liquidity risk in Bahraini banks. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to identify the association between liquidity risk proxied by cash to total assets and specific determinants in Bahraini Islamic Banks (IBs) in order to better mitigate and manage this critical financial risk. Panel data analysis was used on a sample of seven Bahraini IBs, which represent the Bahraini Islamic banking sector over the period of 2007 to 2011. The econometric results illustrate that the liquidity risk ofBahraini IBs is dependent on idiosyncratic factors.We found that liquidity risk is positively related toreturn on average assets (ROAA). On the other hand, non-performing loans (NPLs) and capital adequacy ratio (CAR) affect liquidity risk negatively and significantly. Lastly, bank size and the financial crisis show a negative and insignificant association with liquidity risk. The main limitation of this study is the bank's specific factors, covering one country and IBs only. Therefore, it is recommended that future studies should expand the sample by considering IBs from other GCC countries and also include conventional banks and macroeconomic factors. Finally,since NPLs (credit risk) and CAR have a significant impact on liquidity risk, it is recommended that the relationship between liquidity risk and credit risk in Bahrain and in the GCC environment be further investigated. Future studies should also consider examining the impact of the two new ratios suggested by the Basel Committee on liquidity risk in the GCC banking industry.

This study analyses the impact of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) on the performance of commercial banking in GCC countries through analysing a set of ratios. It contributes to the debate about whether mergers and acquisitions improve the performance of the GCC commercial banks. Seven financial ratios were used to investigate the impact of M&A on the operational performance of the merging banks. The sample consists of 42 commercial banks in the GCC countries. The results of financial ratios are mixed; where acquiring banks, target banks and banks that went through joint ventures show mixed results. It was not easy to establish a strong link between banks involved in M&A and the impact of mergers on their operating performance. However, the findings suggest that, on average, M&A activity did not have significant impact on operational performance of banks involved in this type of consolidation.

The efficiency of bank’s staff plays a crucial role in managing and mitigating the financial risks like liquidity risk. The aim of this paper is to propose a conceptual model/framework for investigating the moderating role of staff efficiency on the relationship between bank’s specific variables and liquidity risk in Islamic banks in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). GCC economies depend heavily on oil revenues which makes it subject to oil prices fluctuations. Therefore, liquidity in GCC banks, especially Islamic banks almost always suffers liquidity pressure. Thus, the issue of liquidity in this region has grown in importance in light of recent oil decline. Several attempts have been made to investigate the determinants of liquidity risk, yet the findings lack consistency. Most of the previous studies have ignored GCC region and have focused on other environments like credit risk but gave less attention to the moderating role of staff efficiency function in the Islamic banks with respect to liquidity risk. This paper offers a framework by adding a moderator of staff efficiency to the existing models of the bank’s specific determinants of liquidity risk with a particular attention to the GCC countries which are heavily dependent on oil revenues and always are subject to the impact of oil prices instabilities. Many stakeholders should benefit from the outcomes of this study. It should pave the way for bankers, regulators, investors and researchers to have a better understanding and insight about the factors that affect liquidity risk in the aforesaid banks.