Shari’ah supervisory board characteristics and market value in MENA Islamic banks gender diversity and independence do not matter

The purpose of this study is observing the characteristics of the Shari’ah supervisory boards (SSB) and empirically investigating their relationship with market valuation for Islamic banks (IBs) operating in MENA region. Panel regression analysis was used to conduct an empirical study on 69 IBs operating in 14 MENA countries over the 2012–2022 period. The dependent variable is the market value. The independent variables are the SSB size, the educational qualification of its members, their expertise, the gender diversity among its members and their independence. We also used the generalized method of moments (GMM) to test the robustness of first results. Our empirical results show that SSB size, SSB educational qualifications and SSB members expertise positively impact IBs’ market value, while gender diversity and independence of SSB members have no significant impact. Dynamic regression analysis provides evidence on the dependence of the bank market value on its lagged variable. This study contributes to the existing limited literature on the effect of SSB attributes on the market value in Islamic banks. It presents the essential of studies dealing with the issue and includes an empirical investigation on how these attributes influence the market valuation in Islamic banks in MENA region. Its outcomes are of important implications for managers in Islamic banks, investors and researchers.