An analysis of corporate governance culture within Maltese banks

Abstract

Throughout the last few decades, the business world has experienced several scandals which can be attributed to failures within governance practices. WorldCom and Enron, amongst others, drew further attention towards the importance of corporate governance. These companies led to major investor losses, reputational damages, large numbers of employees being dismissed and the revelation of unethical business behaviours, relationships and decisions. Now more than ever, entities are expected to exhibit a responsible profile and tremendous ethical and moral behaviour.

Corporate governance practices supported by a good corporate culture can aid organisations to shift from a box-ticking exercise, towards practices which will ensure stakeholder protection and increase the overall value of the firm, whilst still ensuring compliance to current legislation. (Sweet, 2016)

As proven by the collapse of BHS, good corporate governance is crucial within any corporate structure. Hence, this research compares the practices employed by both listed and non-listed entities. In doing so, the researcher aims to identify the level of corporate governance culture found within banks. In order to achieve this, semi-structured interviews are implemented amongst Maltese banks.

Seeing that studies are limited, with regards to the relationship between corporate culture and corporate governance, this research aims to contribute towards the existing knowledge on this topic.