This study aims to compare environmental motives and performance of conventional and Islamic banks in Bangladesh. Green compliance index was developed based on the Bangladesh Bank (the central bank of Bangladesh) guidelines whereas information regarding governance variables is collected from the annual reports of 9 Islamic and 31 conventional banks. Results show Islamic banks are more environmentally friendly compared to their conventional counterparts. Board size is negatively related to green compliance whereas board independence and auditor's type do not have any significant influence on green compliance for both clusters of banks. Compliance with green banking policies enhances the reputation for Islamic banks and accountability and profitability for conventional banks. Results of this study provide useful information for regulatory authorities to formulate policies that are conducive to enhance bank's environmental performance.

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the relationship between capital risk and efficiency of Islamic and conventional banks operating in Bangladesh. In this pursuit, the research attempts to answer these questions: do inefficient banks assume more risk? Is there any major difference between Islamic and conventional banks in terms of efficiency and risk taking behavior? Design/methodology/approach – The study collects various bank-level data from the audited financial statements of Islamic and conventional banks for the period of 2001 to 2011. Collected data are analyzed using Stochastic Frontier Analysis for efficiency estimation and Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) approach for assessing the relationship between capital, risk, and efficiency. Findings – Analysis of data shows that conventional banks are more efficient in managing cost than Islamic banks. Moreover, the SUR results show that the relation between capital and efficiency are bidirectional and negative, whereas the relation between capital and risk is also bidirectional but positive for Islamic banks. On the other hand, risk and efficiency are positively related, and the result is bidirectional for conventional banks. Research limitations/implications – The research concentrates on private-commercial banks as proxy for conventional banks. State-owned banks including specialized banks and foreign commercial banks are excluded from the sample due to various anomalies in reporting of financial data. Practical implications – There is a lot of room for Islamic banks to increase productive efficiency because cost efficiency of Islamic banks is less than that of the conventional banks. This can be attributed to the relative small size of Islamic banks in Bangladesh. Because there exists a positive relationship between size and efficiency for Islamic banks, they can concentrate on increasing their size to capitalize on economies of scale. Moreover, the analysis shows that inefficient conventional banks assume higher risk which conforms to moral hazard hypothesis. Therefore, regulatory authorities should discourage banks from exercising such practice for the greater stability of the overall banking system in Bangladesh. Originality/value – A good number of studies is available in the existing literature that compares the performance of Islamic and conventional banks in the case of Bangladesh. However, very few studies are found that examine the relationship between capital, risk and efficiency. Therefore, the research is new for the selected area. As a result, the research is expected to contribute to the existing literature by providing new information.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent of corporate governance disclosure in the annual reports of listed conventional and Islamic banks in Bangladesh. Out of fifty-six scheduled banks in Bangladesh, a sample of thirty-nine banks is selected, and data for the sample is extracted from the annual reports covering a period of 2011 to 2014. As such, the study focused on the extent of CGC after the stock market crisis in 2010 in Bangladesh. This results in the final observations of 116 which were used to perform balanced panel regression analysis. Fixed effect model is found significant for the balanced panel model which indicates that appointment of large audit firms negatively affects the extent of corporate governance compliance. Pooled OLS regression established that while profitability has a negative influence, the size of banks positively affects the extent of CGC. This study has focused on the commercial banks and thus results obtained from the study may not be representative for public and foreign banks operating in Bangladesh. Statistical evidence provided by the study provides guidelines for the policymakers toward necessary governance reforms required for banks to successfully operate in a post-crisis environment. Factors established by the study that influences corporate governance compliance using a balanced panel model are unique in the context of developing countries. Evidence of a difference in governance compliance between Islamic and conventional banks in Bangladesh establishes a new research arena and a necessary shift from the traditional performance comparisons.

This paper aims to ascertain the benefits that Islamic and conventional banks inBangladesh can reap by implementing green banking, and also the drivers thatmotivate banks to behave environmentally. The Green Compliance Index (GCI) wasintroduced here to measure banks’ environmental behaviour. It was prepared basedon central bank guidelines. In this study, with the participation of all 40 privatecommercial banks (PCBs), 32 conventional banks and 8 Islami Shariah-based PCBs,firm specific variables were collected through content analysis of the GCI. Structuralequation modelling-partial least squares (SEM-PLS), together with the bootstrappingmethod, were used to evaluate the research data. These were collected and sortedfrom the FY annual report of 2018. For further support, a generalized linear model(GLM) was used to assess the outcomes. The results show that the effects of greencompliance on possible benefits are significantly higher for Islamic banks. In contrast,these banks comply less with the green banking codes than conventional banks do inBangladesh. Company size and the independence of bank directors appear to have asignificant influence on compliance with the green banking codes, while governancedoes not show such an association for either group of banks. As Islamic banks havea greater scope to attain benefits, policymakers should introduce more interactivegreen banking products and loan schemes for prospective consumers, especially inindustrial sectors where there is a greater possibility of being sustainable andenvironmentally friendly. Based on the findings, policy recommendations are madefor practitioners, regulators and future researchers.