CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND PERFORMANCE OF THE FINANCIAL FIRMS IN BAHRAIN

The aim of this paper is to explore the relationship between corporate governance and performance of the financial firms in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The study uses annual data of all listed financial firms on the Bahrain Bourse over the period of 2011-2016. The results show that board size, ownership concentration and auditor's reputation have a positive and significant impact on firms' return on assets (ROA), whereas the percentage of independent directors and the annual number of board meetings have negative and significant impact on firms' return on equity (ROE). CEO duality is found to not be an important determinant factor of firms' performance, as the results suggest that it shows insignificant effect on ROA, ROE and stock returns (SPR). Furthermore, firm's size and leverage are found to have negative and insignificant relationship with firms' performance.