The Effect of Revenue and Geographic Diversification on Bank Performance

This paper investigates the effect of revenue and geographic diversification on bank performance, also on a risk adjusted basis. Using an unbalanced panel dataset of 3,002 observations relative to Italian banks for the period 2006-2011, the core question is to analyse the effect of geographic and functional diversification across and within both interest and non-interest income and their effect on some principal performance measures. Furthermore in our study we analyse whether certain type of institutions are better able to reap the benefits of diversification analysing performance implications for different categories of banks and if the results have been affected by the financial crisis. The main results suggest that revenue and geographical diversification play a role in determining bank performance. The relative effects appear, however, to be different between mutual and not-mutual banks suggesting different business strategies for different banks. Moreover, in the after crisis period, banks that have been less penalized in terms of riskadjusted profit are those characterised by a gretare focus on non interest income component and the ones more geographically diversified. These findings have strategic implications both for bank managers, regulators and supervisors for the consequences on banks’ performance and stability.