The main aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between competition and effi ciency in the South African banking sector, then go further, and see how these variables affect bank soundness. Results show that the impact of competition on effi ciency depends on the measure of competition used. When using the Lerner index there is a negative effect of competition on effi ciency whilst the opposite is true when using the Boone indicator. In the case of bank soundness, our results are partly consistent with what other researchers have found. Thus, competition using the Boone indicator is negatively related to the Zscore implying that competition enhances bank soundness and these results support the Prudent and effi cient management hypothesis

中文翻译：

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南非银行业的竞争，效率和稳健性分析

这项研究的主要目的是调查南非银行业竞争与效率之间的关系，然后进一步研究这些变量如何影响银行的稳健性。结果表明，竞争对效率的影响取决于所用竞争的度量。当使用勒纳指数时，竞争对效率有负面影响，而在使用布恩指标时则相反。就银行稳健性而言，我们的结果与其他研究人员的发现部分一致。因此，使用Boone指标进行的竞争与Zscore呈负相关，这表明竞争增强了银行的稳健性，这些结果支持了审慎而有效的管理假设