Abstract
Indigenous banks in developing economies have been identified as having weaker corporate governance mechanisms, compared to their multinational counterparts. This weakness has been attributed to the failure of indigenous banks in the 2017-2018 Ghanaian banking crisis. However, there is a lacuna of research into the impact of corporate governance mechanisms in developing countries and indigenous banks. This research addresses this by examining the relationship between the board characteristics of board size, composition, gender diversity, and meeting frequency on the financial performance of indigenous banks in Ghana. Panel Ordinary Least Square regression was conducted using data from indigenous banks' annual reports and the Ghana banking survey reports for eight years, 2016 – 2023. The results indicated a statistically significant positive relationship between board size, board composition, and the financial performance of indigenous banks in Ghana when measured using both return on assets and return on equity. However, the research found that there was not a significant relationship between gender diversity and the frequency of board meetings, and the financial performance of indigenous banks in Ghana. These findings offer implications for indigenous financial institutions and policymakers seeking to support indigenous banks, which are more susceptible to financial and governance failures.