Corporate Governance and Banks: How Justified is the Match?

Abstract

Banks and bank governance are different. We critically assess the arguments used to pervade these divergences in operational activities. We also question if and how, in light of the specificity of banking activities, bank governance translates the operational peculiarities in different governance features. We hardly find convincing arguments for the bank governance specificities. We conclude that parts of the particular bank governance legislation and regulation misses appropriate justification, should be, at best, part of a general corporate governance code, and other mechanisms, like stringent capital requirements, are more adequate.

Keywords: corporate governance, codes, bank governance, banking regulation, capital requirements

JEL Classification: G21, G28, G34, K23, O16