Despite the growth of Islamic banks (IBs), little is known about their liquidity creation performance and financial stability consequences relative to conventional banks (CBs). We address these issues using data from 24 countries over 2000–2014. We find IBs create more liquidity per unit of assets than CBs, primarily on the asset side of the balance sheet. Results are economically significant, econometrically robust, hold in high- and low-income countries, and during the Global Financial Crisis and other times. In addition, CB liquidity creation results in reduced national financial stability, particularly in high-income countries, whereas IB liquidity creation does not.

This paper investigates the effects of national culture on bank liquidity creation. Using a sample that covers 66 countries over the 2001–2014 period, we find that individualism is associated with greater bank liquidity creation. This evidence lends more weight to the risk-taking and overconfidence bias explanations. We also find that the effect is stronger for larger banks. Moreover, individualism is associated with more (less) liquidity creation in developed (developing) countries, suggesting that social connections and better access to soft information are relevant explanations in developing countries. Additional analysis suggests that the other cultural dimensions of uncertainty avoidance and power distance are related to lower bank liquidity creation. The results remain robust for a battery of sensitivity checks, and for confronting endogeneity and omitted variables concerns.