The impact of the intellectual capital efficiency on commercial banks performance: Evidence from the US

Using a large sample of 5,749 commercial banks, covering over 40,000 observations over the time window 2005-2012, we find that efficiency in the use of intellectual capital (IC) positively affects the financial performance of US banks. In addition, the results show that human capital (HC) efficiency, a subcomponent of IC efficiency, has a larger impact on financial performance than other IC sub-components. These findings suggest that the development of effective techniques of knowledge management, enabling banks to accumulate the IC necessary to adapt to a constantly changing environment, represents an effective tool of achieving the goals of both bank managers and policymakers.