Abstract
In this study, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is used to examine the determinants of banking performance in Bahrain between 2005 and 2009. This performance is analyzed through a comparative study of 12 banks (six conventional and six Islamic banks). A diversity of internal and external banking characteristics were used to forecast this performance. The main of them are the return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE), and efficiency (EFF). Our determinant study of bank performance confirms previous investigations. The increase in size of Islamic banks and the rapid growth in the customers' deposits are the important factors of performance. Moreover, our results indicate that the variables related to the government intervention have a negative impact on the banking performance in the conventional funding model.