PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to explore the association between corporate governance mechanisms and the performance of listed banks in Bangladesh.Design/methodology/approachDynamic panel data of two-step System Generalized Method of Moments (SGMM) estimators are used to analyze the influence of corporate governance characteristics on the performance of banks operating in Bangladesh over a period of eleven years from 2008 to 2018.FindingsBy employing the two-step SGMM, the authors find statistical evidence to conclude that board size has a positive impact on banks' accounting performance. However, it does not influence the market performance of banks operating in Bangladesh. The authors’ results also suggest that outside independent directors, managerial ownership and females' participation on the board are not linked with the performance of the listed banks in Bangladesh. It signifies that the mere presence of outside directors and female directors in the board does not guarantee the enhancement of banks' performance and the minimization of agency conflict between shareholders and management. The persistent characteristic of bank performance is one of the crucial findings of this paper.Research limitations/implicationsThis research has some limitations as the study's findings may not be generalized to other countries or industries because the current study considered only the small sample size based on the availability of the data and focused only on the banks listed in the DSE. Moreover, this study may not represent the whole financial industry because it includes all listed and non-listed banks and non-bank financial institutions. Hence, the findings may not be applicable to the other industries operating in different business ecosystems.Practical implicationsThe findings of this analysis have some managerial implications. This study provides managers empirical evidence regarding the influence of corporate governance elements on banks' performance, and they can now identify the factors that should emphasize enhancing the bank performance. The findings demonstrate that policymakers, regulatory bodies and bank management should pay more attention to the banks' overall corporate governance structures, especially in the case of appointing independent and female directors to challenge the executive power and to prevent the repetition of financial irregularities and loan scams in the banking industry of Bangladesh. Furthermore, the regulatory authorities should ensure the banks follow the corporate governance guidelines precisely for building a resilient banking industry to attain sustainable development goals in the long run.Originality/valueThis paper is the first empirical in-depth analysis applying the most recent data that examines the effect of bank governance elements on the performance of all the banks listed in the Dhaka Stock Exchange to the best of our knowledge.

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to empirically explore the economic effect of advertising spending on the performance of banks on a sample consisting of all banks listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange over the period spanning from 2011 to 2019.Design/methodology/approachA dynamic panel data autoregressive approach of two-step system generalized method of moments (2-SGMM) estimation technique has been adopted in this study to analyze the contemporary and carryover effect of advertising on the financial performance of banks.FindingsThe findings indicate that advertising expenditure boosts banks' accounting returns but not their market value. Furthermore, advertising has a negative carryover effect on the financial performance of banks and is statistically significant for operating profit and return on equity. This finding demonstrates that the economic benefits of advertising expenditure lapse entirely within the current period and ought to be treated as an expense since it does not bring any future return for the banks in Bangladesh. In addition, this paper also offers no critical contrast between the impact of advertising spending on the performance of both conventional and Islamic banks operating in Bangladesh.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, no study so far has looked into the effect of advertising on the profitability and the market value of the banks operating in Bangladesh, and this is the first study that explores this relationship.