Purpose - This paper examines the effect of financial (banking) freedom and market power on bank net interest margins (NIM). Design/methodology/approach - The study uses data from 11 sub-Saharan African countries over the period, 2006-2012, and the system generalized method of moments to assess how financial freedom affects the relationship between market power and bank NIM. Findings - The authors find that both financial freedom and market power have positive relationships with bank NIM. However, there is some indication that the impact of market power on bank margins is sensitive to the level of financial freedom prevailing in an economy. It appears that as competition intensifies, margins of banks in freer countries are likely to reduce faster than those in areas with more restrictions. Practical implications - Competition policies could be guided by the insight on how financial freedom moderates the effect of market power on bank margins. Originality/value - This study provides new empirical evidence on how the level of financial freedom affects bank margins and the market power-bank margins relationship.

中文翻译：

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撒哈拉以南非洲地区的财务自由，市场支配力和银行利润率

目的-本文研究了金融（银行）自由和市场支配力对银行净息差（NIM）的影响。设计/方法/方法-该研究使用了2006-2012年间来自撒哈拉以南非洲11个国家的数据，以及系统的广义矩方法来评估金融自由如何影响市场支配力与银行NIM之间的关系。调查结果-作者发现，金融自由度和市场支配力与银行NIM都具有积极关系。但是，有迹象表明，市场支配力对银行利润率的影响对经济中普遍存在的财务自由度敏感。似乎随着竞争的加剧，较自由国家的银行的利润下降速度可能会比那些受到更多限制的地区的银行下降速度更快。实际意义-竞争政策可以通过对金融自由如何减轻市场支配力对银行利润率的影响的洞察力来指导。原创性/价值-这项研究为金融自由度如何影响银行保证金以及市场力量与银行保证金之间的关系提供了新的经验证据。