Factors that In uence illiquidity in the South African Banking Industry: Empirical Evidence of Commercial Banks

Abstract

This paper investigates the determinants of illiquidity in the South African banking industry using listed commercial banks. We selected two theoretically established illiquidity measures and perform empirical analysis using rms spe- ci c variables and macroeconomic variables. A xed e¤ect regression model was adopted and the empirical results indicate that total cash to assets ratios and rms market size as proxy by market capitalization are the signi cant factors that in uence illiquidity in the South African banking industry. These results are consistent with the ndings in the literature. Furthermore, we nd no dif- ference between the illiquidity measures used in the study as they lead to the same conclsuion. Keywords: Commercial banks, illiquidity, rms speci c factors 2