The Effect of Competitiveness on the Profitability of Syrian Private Banks: An Empirical Study Using Auto Regressive Distributed Lag Model (ARDL)

Abstract

This research aimed to test the effect of competitiveness on the profitability of Syrian banks during the period (2009- 2024), the competitiveness was measured using Panzar & Rosse approach (PR) as nonstructural measure, the Banking concentration ratio of the top four banks in relation to total loans (CR4_l), Herfindahl Hircshman index in relation to total deposits (HHI_d) as structural measures, while Profitability was measured using retune on assets (ROA), Earning Per Share. To achieve the research goal, quarterly data was used, and ARDL approach was applied. The research concluded that there is positive and significant effect of competitiveness measured by (PR) on the profitability in the long term, and negative and significant effect in the short term. there is also positive and significant effect of competitiveness measured by (CR4_l) on the Profitability in the long term, as for its effect in the short term, It’s negative. while competitiveness when measured by the (HHId) index, had negative effect on profitability in the long term, and positive effect in the short term.