I examine the impact of diversity (ethnic and religious fractionalization and polarization) on banking stability in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Using data from 1996 to 2014, I employ the system Generalized Method of Moments (sys-GMM) approach to examine this relationship. I find that countries in SSA are more polarized religiously than they are ethnically. The region is, however, more ethnically fractionalized than they are religiously. Further, I conjecture that banks in more heterogeneous societies will experience poor asset quality and lower stability. I however postulate that banks offset the risks from diversity at certain levels of net interest margin (NIM). I provide empirical evidence to support these conjectures. I find varying threshold NIM values for each diversity indicator depending on the stability measure used. Opening up the banking system to foreign entry can help offset the negative impact of diversity on banking stability. Policy implications are discussed.

我研究了多样性（种族和宗教分裂和两极分化）对撒哈拉以南非洲（SSA）银行业稳定性的影响。使用 1996 年到 2014 年的数据，我采用系统广义矩量法 (sys-GMM) 方法来检验这种关系。我发现 SSA 中的国家在宗教上比在种族上更加两极分化。然而，该地区在种族上比在宗教上更加分裂。此外，我猜想，在更加异质的社会中，银行的资产质量会很差，稳定性也会下降。然而，我假设银行在一定的净息差 (NIM) 水平上抵消了多样性带来的风险。我提供经验证据来支持这些猜想。我发现每个多样性指标的阈值 NIM 值取决于所使用的稳定性度量。向外国进入开放银行系统有助于抵消多元化对银行稳定性的负面影响。政策影响进行了讨论。