Investigating the Impact of Diversification Strategy in Assets and Loans on Bank Risk

The realtionship between risk and diversification is an important issue in banking. This paper evaluated the impact of diversification in loans and asset on risk. Assets based on a fourfold division of assets other than loans, including fixed assets, securities, investment and facilities granted by economic sectors including agriculture, industry and mining, construction, housing, trade, services and export.The sample of study was 12 listed banks in Tehran Stock Exchange included Saderat, Mellat, Tejarat, Parsian, Eghtesad Novin, Pasargad, Sina, Hekmat, Day, Sarmaye, Postbank, and Karafrin. The period of study was from 2011 to 2015. The method of study was panel data that used a model for investigating the relationship between risk and diversification. Findings showed that there was a positive and significant relationship between risk and concentration. This result confirmed the traditional therory in banking about risk and diversification. Also, the results have the important policy implications to banks for decreasing risk in loans and deposits.