BANK MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS – AN EVALUATION OF THE ‘FOUR PILLARS’ POLICY IN AUSTRALIA*

This paper examines the efficiency consequences of bank mergers and acquisitions with particular reference to the ‘four pillars’ policy preventing mergers among the four major banks. Using data envelopment analysis, the technical efficiencies of banks operating in Australia over the period from 1983 to 2001 are estimated. A second‐stage regression is used to evaluate ex‐post efficiency performance of banks involved in mergers and acquisitions. The empirical results demonstrate that for the time being mergers among the four major banks may result in much poorer efficiency performance in the merging banks and the banking sector.     

Retail‐bank efficiency: Nonstandard goals and environmental determinants

This paper analyzes technical and scale efficiency of Austrian savings and cooperative banks. Non‐profit objectives are also considered with respect to input–output choice, which contributes to adequate performance measurements for alternative banks. Efficiency score estimates obtained via Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) reveal considerable potential for improvement in terms of intermediation efficiency. Several environmental determinants prove significant, but the cumulative predictive content of exogenous factors is rather modest. Bank efficiency improves in both underdeveloped and prosperous markets, while increased rival size and distance appear to be detriments to efficiency. A concluding discussion of confounding factors reveals the managerial, stakeholder, and policy implications of the results.     

Cost metafrontier approach for measuring the Malmquist productivity index: An example of bank groups formed after the financial reform in Taiwan

This study attempts to provide a framework under the variable returns to scale hypothesis to account for the effect of the cost scale efficiency change in the decomposition of the cost metafrontier Malmquist productivity index (CMMPI). In addition, the meta‐cost efficiency and cost frontier gap between subordinate banks of financial holding companies (FHC) and independent banks are also examined. A total of 34 banks in Taiwan are empirically analysed from 1999 to 2012. The results indicate that the meta‐cost efficiency, meta‐technical efficiency and meta‐allocative efficiency scores of subordinate banks of FHC are better than those of independent banks. The banking industry in Taiwan is found to have an improvement in cost metafrontier Malmquist productivity. The subordinate banks of FHC are also found to exhibit positive CMMPI and decomposition components, but do not achieve a significant improvement except in the case of the technical gap ratio change. The empirical results recommend that Taiwanese banks place more policy focus on the issue of scale adjustment, which should be beneficial. Based on the CMMPI decomposed results, we can gain further understanding of the growth path to enhance operational performance.     

Does bank efficiency matter? Market value relevance of bank efficiency in Australia

The stochastic frontier analysis is employed to investigate efficiency of publicly listed Australian banks over the period 1985 to 2008. The results suggest that technical, cost and profit efficiency of Australian banks have improved over time. Large banks have attained a higher level of cost efficiency but a lower level of technical efficiency compared to small banks. No substantial difference between the two groups is found in terms of profit efficiency. A panel regression of bank stock return on bank efficiency suggests that an improvement in technical, cost or profit efficiency contributes to the market value of a bank. Thus, the shareholder wealth maximization goal is aligned with the goal of maximizing bank efficiency in the Australian context.     

HOW DID STATE‐OWNED BANKS RESPOND TO PRIVATIZATION? EVIDENCE FROM THE INDIAN EXPERIMENT

ABSTRACT ** : The paper examines the response of banks to privatization. Using data on all state‐owned banks for the period 1990–2006, the findings indicate that fully state‐owned banks are significantly less profitable than partially privatized ones. The improvements in performance by partially privatized banks are, in fact, sustained after privatization. In addition, the analysis indicates that privatization improves profitability, efficiency and improves bank soundness, while lowering bank risk. While the improvement in bank risk is typically spread out over a much longer period, the progress in terms of profitability and economic efficiency typically occurs in the post‐privatization period.     

CUSTOMER TYPE AND BANK EFFICIENCY IN POLAND: IMPLICATIONS FOR EMERGING MARKET BANKING

Bank efficiency studies on emerging markets tend to show that foreign banks are more cost-, profit-, and operationally efficient than statE-owned or domestic private banks. They also show that large banks are more efficient than small banks. Using a parametric approach to measuring efficiency, this article finds that foreign banks servicing foreign and business customers are more cost-efficient and less profit-efficient than other banks in Poland. Additionally, evidence of cost economies and profit diseconomies of scale are found. These results have implications for regulatory policies focused on promoting efficiency in the banking systems of emerging markets.     

Regulation and efficiency in transition: the case of Romanian banks

Using disaggregated panel data for the period 1996–2002, this paper estimates the cost efficiency of Romanian banks and relates it to regulation implemented by the National Bank of Romania. We estimate efficiency using a model that combines the frameworks of both stochastic frontier analysis and shadow cost functions. Our results indicate that, for all types of banks, the cost of technical inefficiency decreases in the years following tightening of regulation. A significant part of this decrease can be attributed to the policy change. Overall, the short-run increase in cost due to additional regulation exceeds the benefits from reduced technical inefficiency. However, our model does not account for other benefits, besides changes in X-inefficiency, such as stability of the banking system, which may be significant.      

Productivity and efficiency of Vietnamese banking system: new evidence using Färe-Primont index analysis

This article aims to provide a clearer view on the recent evolutions of the Vietnamese banking system that can be useful to public authority when taking restructuring decisions. This article focuses on the evolution of productivity of Vietnamese banks over the period 2008 to 2012, and on the evolution of the different components of this productivity: technical change, pure technical efficiency and mix and scale efficiency. The methodology draws from very recent developments in index theory in the design of multiplicative-complete economically ideal indexes, using Färe-Primont productivity indexes to measure productivity. This methodology is applied to a balanced panel of Vietnamese banks. The results complement observations usually made on the recent development of the Vietnamese banking system. They show that the State Bank of Vietnam’s restructuring policy cannot focus only on either the insufficient size of banks or a better management of these banks in terms of the mix of outputs. Both must be considered simultaneously, not only through bank mergers but also in setting management criteria in line with criteria defined internationally.     

Financial liberalization and bank efficiency: a comparative analysis of India and Pakistan

This paper provides a comparative analysis of the evolution of the technical efficiency of commercial banks in India and Pakistan during 1988–1998, a period characterized by far-reaching changes in the banking industry brought about by financial liberalization. Data Envelopment Analysis is applied to two alternative input–output specifications to measure technical efficiency, and to decompose technical efficiency into its two components, pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency. The consistency of the estimated efficiency scores are checked by examining their relationship with three traditional non-frontier measures of bank performance. In addition, the relationship between bank size and technical efficiency is examined. It is found that the overall technical efficiency of the banking industry of both countries improved gradually over the years, especially after 1995. Unlike public sector banks in India, public sector banks in Pakistan witnessed improvement in scale efficiency only. It is also found that banks are relatively more efficient in generating earning assets than in generating income. This is attributed to the presence of high non-performing loans. In addition, it is found that the gap between the pure technical efficiency of different size groups has declined over the years.     

我国政策性银行的DEA效率分析

本文采用DEA方法对2000—2007年我国三家政策性银行——中国农业发展银行、国家开发银行和中国进出口银行的DEA效率进行了分析。研究结果表明:首先,国家开发银行的技术效率、纯技术效率和规模效率在三家政策性银行中表现最好,农业发展银行的表现最差;其次,造成政策性银行低效率的很大原因在于规模低效率;最后,我国政策性银行的财务可持续能力相对较差。     

Technical efficiency in the Chinese banking sector

This paper applies an innovative DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) model, the Inverse B-convex model, in order to investigate the technical efficiency of a representative sample of Chinese banks. The banks are ranked according to their efficiency over the period 1998-2008. The results paint a mixed picture of the Chinese banks' performance. The influence of firm size and ownership on bank efficiency is not observed. However, the study shows that overall efficiency improved over time, especially after the entry of China into the WTO. Policy implications are derived.     

The comparative efficiency performance of small and large US commercial banks in the pre- and post-deregulation eras

The purposes of this paper are twofold: first, to employ a flexible non-parametric approach to contrast the productive efficiency of a sample of small and large banks in order to examine the relationship between size and productive performance in the banking industry. Second, to investigate whether the relative efficiency performance of small and large banks has changed following the changes in the banking environment in the 1980s and to contrast the rate of technological change achieved by these two groups of banks over this time period. The findings based on group-specific frontiers suggest that in the pre-deregulation environment small banks were more efficient than the large banks while in the deregulated environment small and large banks were equally efficient. Moreover, the dispersion in the efficiency measures of the small banks is found to have increased substantially while that of the large banks changed little over the sample period.     

Technical efficiency and returns to scale in Austrian commercial banking: 1987–1991

In a pooled time-series cross-section study covering the period 1987–1991, the technical efficiency of Austrian all-purpose banks is analysed. The sample covers banks of all size classes, among them the largest 18 banks as well as some of the very small banks. The empirical results show that local banks and nationwide operating banks are technically most efficient while regional banks are least efficient. Moreover, it can be shown that the technical efficiency of nationwide operating banks improved substantially in the period analysed relative to that of local and regional banks.I wish to thank an anonymous referee for his helpful comments. Financial support from the Vienna Chamber of Commerce is gratefully acknowledged.     

BANK EFFICIENCY AND THE EFFECTIVENESS OF MONETARY POLICY

Advances in information technology and bank consolidation have altered the way banks operate by necessitating that banks control costs and provide services efficiently to remain competitive. Given the unique role bank operations play in the transmission of monetary policy, a key unresolved question is whether bank efficiency alters monetary policy outcomes. Using a stochastic frontier approach to measure cost‐efficiency and panel data of U.S. bank balance sheets, we show that banks with greater cost‐efficiency are more sensitive to monetary shocks. (JEL E52, E44, E51)     

Do Bank Capital and Liquidity Affect Real Economic Activity in the Long Run? A VECM Analysis for the US

This paper analyses the long‐term economic costs of the new regulatory standards (the so‐called Basel III reform) for the US. Using a Vector Error Correction Model that estimates long‐run relationships among a small set of macro‐variables over the period 1994–2008, it shows that tighter capital and liquidity requirements have negative (but rather limited) effects on the level of long‐run steady‐state output and more sizeable effects on banks’ return on equity. The economic costs are considerably below the estimated positive benefit that the reform should have by reducing the probability of banking crises and the associated banking losses ( BCBS, 2010b ).     

Re‐Examining the Technical Efficiency of Australian Banks: A Bootstrap DEA Approach

This study re‐examines both pure technical and scale efficiency of Australian banks using bootstrap data envelopment analysis (DEA). The aim is to improve the choice of variables of the core profit efficiency model which is commonly used in earlier Australian banking efficiency studies. After we introduce the “interest income” over “net interest income” variable in the core profit efficiency model, the proportion of fully pure technical efficient banks decreased to 23% which is significantly lower than 81% which was reported in a recent study. This research argues that the main issue that has contributed to this difference is that improving the choice of variables significantly increases the discriminatory power of efficiency estimates. Additionally, emphasising on statistical properties of efficiency estimates, this study employs bootstrap DEA to provide confidence intervals and bias corrected estimates of pure technical efficiency scores of the sample banks. The bootstrap results show the importance of incorporating sample variation and bias in estimating efficiency scores. Earlier Australian banking efficiency studies ignored such issues. The new findings from the sample banks could have important implications for the banking industry in Australia.     

Bank Ownership and Efficiency in the Aftermath of Financial Crises: Evidence from Indonesia

This paper examines the relationship between types of ownership of banks and their efficiency in the aftermath of a financial crisis using Greene's “true” panel data stochastic frontier model, which takes into account unobserved heterogeneity among banks. The Indonesian banking sector is analyzed using financial data of 144 banks operating in Indonesia over the period of 2000Q4–2005Q2. In the aftermath of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the cost efficiency of all banks improves over time on average. However, there is some evidence that, as these banks improve their efficiency, state‐owned banks are the least efficient banks while joint‐venture and foreign‐owned banks are the most efficient.     

Measuring and explaining the efficiencies of the United Arab Emirates banking system

Using newly collected data from a survey distributed to all banks in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), this article measures economic efficiency in the banking industry, namely allocative, technical, pure technical and scale efficiency. Employing a nonparametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach, the study estimates the efficiency for a cross section of the UAE banks in 2004. The results indicate that the dominant source of inefficiency in the UAE banking is stemming from allocative inefficiency rather than technical inefficiency. Furthermore, the main source of the relatively small size, technical inefficiency in the UAE banking industry is not the scale inefficiency but rather pure technical inefficiency. The results further indicate that the UAE banks are able to use their input resources more efficiently when they have more branches, and that newer banks are performing better than older banks on average. Moreover, the results also show that short experiences of employees affect efficiencies negatively and government ownership tends to reduce efficiency (as the government shares increase in the bank, the efficiency scores get lower). Finally, the most interesting results have to do with finding higher average efficiencies in banks that employ more women, more managers and less national citizens of the UAE.     

我国商业银行 X-效率研究

从我国商业银行效率角度出发分析了我国商业银行的规模效率、范围效率和X-效率,表明我国商业银行总体效率不高。以2005～2013年的数据为例,并运用数据包络分析方法（DEA）对我国商业银行的X-效率进行实证分析,考察了其间的差异。通过多元回归论述了影响我国商业银行X-效率的因素主要有银行产权结构、金融创新、资产配置、资产质量、资本充足率、人力资源配置。提出深化产权制度改革、提高人力资源管理水平、降低不良贷款率、促进技术创新的建议。     

Evolution of banking efficiency within an unstable macroeconomic environment: the case of Turkish commercial banks

This paper analyses the efficiency performance of the Turkish banking sector between 1988 and 1999, a period characterized by increasing macroeconomic instability. The technical and scale efficiencies of Turkish commercial banks are measured with the use of nonparametric Data Envelopment Analysis. The empirical results suggest that over the sample period both pure technical and scale efficiency measures show a great variation and the sector did not achieve sustained efficiency gains. It is also reported that the sector suffers mainly from scale inefficiency and scale inefficiency, in turn, is due to decreasing returns to scale. There are also reported differences in the efficiency performance of commercial banks with different ownership status. In addition, the relationships between profitability, asset quality, size and the two definitions of efficiency are considered. Efficient banks are more profitable, and pure technical efficiency and scale inefficiency are positively related to size. The trend in the performance levels over the period suggests that macroeconomic conditions had a profound influence on the efficiency measures.