A Note on the Profitability of African Banks: Islamic versus Conventional

This paper aims to examine and compare the profitability of Islamic and conventional banks located in 20 African countries over the period 2009-2017. Based on a sample of 21 Islamic banks and 143 conventional banks, this paper shows that the determinants of performance are almost the same between Islamic and conventional banks in Africa. Our findings highlight that the specific characteristics (such as capitalization and efficiency) of conventional and Islamic banks influence their performance in Africa. Precisely, we find that large and deposit-dependent banks perform better.