Determinants of Capital Structure in Financial Institutions: The Case of Turkey

Abstract

This study analyzes the determinants of capital structure in the Turkish banking sector. We propose an empirical model in order to identify the factors that explain why banks hold capital beyond the amount required by the regulation. We used a panel data set that employs bank-level data from the Turkish banking sector covering the period 2002–2006 and estimated the model with generalized method of moments (GMM). The findings of this study suggest that lagged capital, portfolio risk, economic growth, average capital level of the sector and return on equity are positively correlated with capital adequacy ratio and share of deposits are negatively correlated with capital adequacy ratio.Capital Adequacy, Turkish Banking Sector, GMM