Akande JOKwenda FEhalaiye D201826/04/2018APPLIED ECONOMICS, 2018, 50 (44), pp. 4774 - 47870003-6846https://hdl.handle.net/10179/16899This study investigates the relationship between competition and the risk-taking attitude of banks. We test how this relationship manifests in the Sub-Saharan African(SSA) region’s commercial banks in light of the competition-fragility view, using the generalized methods of moments. We studied 440 commercial banks in 37 SSA countries over the period 2006–2015. The results provide evidence that supports a positive relationship between competition and banks’ overall risk as well as their credit risk but suggests that off-balance sheet risk reduces with competition. We, therefore, conclude that the propensity to undertake higher risk in a competitive banking environment largely accounts for fragility as argued in the competition-fragility view.4774 - 4787Competitionrisk-taking behaviourLerner indexgeneralized method of momentscommercial banksG21G29L10Journal article10.1080/00036846.2018.14669954045871466-4283Massey_Dark1402 Applied Economics1403 Econometrics1502 Banking, Finance and Investment