Privatization matters: Bank efficiency in transition countries

To investigate the impact of bank privatization in transition countries, we take the largest banks in six relatively advanced countries, namely, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Poland and Romania. Income and balance sheet characteristics and efficiency measures computed from stochastic frontiers are compared across four bank ownership types. Our empirical results support the hypotheses that foreign-owned banks are most efficient and government-owned banks are least efficient. In addition, the importance of attracting a strategic foreign owner in the privatization process is confirmed. However, counter to the conjecture that foreign banks cherry pick the most profitable opportunities, we find that domestic banks have a local advantage in pursuing fee-for-service business. Finally, we show that both the method and the timing of privatization matter to performance; specifically, voucher privatization does not lead to increased efficiency and early-privatized banks are more efficient than later-privatized banks, even though we find no evidence of a selection effect.     

Bank ownership and lending patterns during the 2008–2009 financial crisis: Evidence from Latin America and Eastern Europe

This paper examines the impact of bank ownership on credit growth in developing countries before and during the 2008–2009 crisis. Using bank-level data for countries in Eastern Europe and Latin America, we analyze the growth of banks’ total gross loans as well as the growth of corporate, consumer, and residential mortgage loans. While domestic private banks in Eastern Europe and Latin America contracted their loan growth rates during the crisis, there are notable differences in foreign and government-owned bank credit growth across regions. In Eastern Europe, foreign bank total lending fell by more than domestic private bank credit. These results are primarily driven by reductions in corporate loans. Furthermore, government-owned banks in Eastern Europe did not act counter-cyclically. The opposite is true in Latin America, where the growth of government-owned banks’ corporate and consumer loans during the crisis exceeded that of domestic and foreign banks. Contrary to the case of foreign banks in Eastern Europe, those in Latin America did not fuel loan growth prior to the crisis. Also, there are less pronounced and robust differences in the behavior of foreign and domestic banks during the crisis in Latin America.     

Bank globalization and efficiency: Host- and home-country effects

Analyzing 126 countries for 1995–2013, we investigate the link between bank globalization and efficiency from the perspective of both host and home countries. We find strong and consistent evidence that foreign bank entry is associated with lower efficiency in host countries (host-country effect), while foreign expansion in the banking sector improves the efficiency of banks at home (home-country effect). We further observe that the effect of bank globalization is dependent on the regulatory and institutional regimes of the respective host (home) countries. Specifically, stringent activity restrictions, tight supervision, fewer limitations on foreign banks, lower market entry barriers, and less government interference all help mitigate the efficiency loss from foreign bank entry. Less supervision power, multiple supervisors, more restrictions on foreign banks, and a competitive banking market are all conducive to the higher efficiency gain of incumbent domestic banks from the respective country’s outward investments in the banking sector. Moreover, we find that the adverse impact on efficiency from foreign bank presence is less pronounced for less risky, more profitable, and larger banks, while banks that are more efficient, more profitable, taking on more risk, and/or smaller gain more efficiency from their country’s foreign expansion.     

Foreign Banks: Trends and Impact

Over the past two decades, foreign banks have become much more important in domestic financial intermediation, heightening the need to understand their behavior. We introduce a new, comprehensive database, made publicly available, on bank ownership (including the home country of foreign banks) for 5,324 banks in 137 countries over the period 1995–2009. We document large increases in foreign bank presence in many countries, but with substantial heterogeneity in terms of host and banks’ home countries, bilateral investment patterns, and bank characteristics. In terms of impact, we document that the relation between private credit and foreign bank presence importantly depends on host country and banks’ characteristics. Specifically, foreign banks only seem to have a negative impact on credit in low‐income countries, in countries where they have a limited market share, where enforcing contracts is costly and where credit information is limited available, and when they come from distant home countries. This shows that accounting for heterogeneity, including bilateral ownership, is crucial to better understand the implications of foreign bank ownership.     

Bank efficiency and foreign ownership: Do good institutions matter?

This paper contributes to the literature on foreign ownership and bank efficiency by examining whether the efficiency of foreign banks depends on the institutional quality of the host country and on institutional differences between the home and host country. Using stochastic frontier analysis for a sample of 2095 commercial banks in 105 countries for the years 1998–2003, we find that foreign ownership negatively affects bank efficiency. However, in countries with good governance this negative effect is less pronounced. We also find that higher quality of the institutions in the home country and higher similarity between home and host country institutional quality reduce foreign bank inefficiency.     

Do different forms of government ownership matter for bank capital behavior? Evidence from China

This study attempts to reconcile the conflicting theoretical predictions regarding how government ownership affects bank capital behaviour. Using a unique Chinese bank dataset over 2006–2015 we find that government-owned banks have higher target capital ratios and adjust these ratios faster compared to private banks, supporting the ‘development/political’ view of the government’s role in banking. This effect is stronger for local government-owned and state enterprise-owned banks than for central government-owned banks. We also find that undercapitalized government-owned banks increase equity while undercapitalized foreign banks contract assets and liabilities as their respective main strategy to adjust their capital ratios.     

Foreign bank penetration and the lending channel in emerging economies: Evidence from bank-level panel data

This paper examines the main implications of recently increasing foreign bank penetration on bank lending as a channel of monetary policy transmission in emerging economies. Using a dynamic panel model of loan growth, we investigate the loan granting behavior of 1273 banks in the emerging economies of Asia, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe during the period from 1996 to 2003. Applying the pooled OLS, system GMM, and panel VAR estimators, we find consistent evidence that foreign banks are less responsive to monetary shocks in host countries, as they adjust their outstanding loan portfolios and interest rates to a lesser extent than domestic private banks, independent of their liquidity, capitalization, size, efficiency, and credit risk, and although there exists a bank lending channel in the emerging economies, it is declining in strength due to the increased level of foreign bank penetration. We also explore possible driving factors for the different responses of foreign and domestic banks to monetary policy shocks by investigating foreign banks’ different behavior during banking crises and tranquil periods, the effects of mode of entry to host countries, the home-country effects, and the response of foreign banks from OECD countries vs. all foreign countries including non-OECD countries. We suggest the access of foreign banks to funding from parent banks through internal capital markets as the most convincing explanation.     

An empirical study of bank efficiency in China after WTO accession

This paper documents the technical efficiency of Chinese banks over 1999–2010. With stochastic frontier analysis, we find that Chinese banks are about 18% more efficient in generating lending assets than profits. We also observe an upward trend of bank efficiency after China's entry to WTO in 2001. The improvement of bank efficiency is most prominent for the largest banks with substantial state ownership. We also find that majority state-owned banks are least efficient; well capitalized banks are less efficient; bank efficiency decreases with bank size at the lower end, but banks gain efficiency and realize economies of scale when bank size grows large enough; more fee-generating business reduces efficiency; better management improves efficiency.     

Bank ownership reform and bank performance in China

Using a panel of Chinese banks over the 1997–2004 period, we assess the effect of bank ownership on performance. Specifically, we conduct a joint analysis of the static, selection, and dynamic effects of (domestic) private, foreign and state ownership. We find that the “Big Four” state-owned commercial banks are less profitable, are less efficient, and have worse asset quality than other types of banks except the “policy” banks (static effect). Further, the banks undergoing a foreign acquisition or public listing record better pre-event performance (selection effect); however, we find little performance change in either the short or the long term.     

Bank ownership and efficiency in China: What will happen in the world’s largest nation?

China is reforming its banking system, partially privatizing and taking on minority foreign ownership of three of its dominant “Big Four” state-owned banks. This paper helps predict the effects by analyzing the efficiency of Chinese banks over 1994–2003. Findings suggest that Big Four banks are by far the least efficient; foreign banks are most efficient; and minority foreign ownership is associated with significantly improved efficiency. We present corroborating robustness checks and offer several credible mechanisms through which minority foreign owners may increase Chinese bank efficiency. These findings suggest that minority foreign ownership of the Big Four will likely improve performance significantly.     

Ownership structure,risk and performance in the European banking industry

We compare the performance and risk of a sample of 181 large banks from 15 European countries over the 1999–2004 period and evaluate the impact of alternative ownership models, together with the degree of ownership concentration, on their profitability, cost efficiency and risk. Three main results emerge. First, after controlling for bank characteristics, country and time effects, mutual banks and government-owned banks exhibit a lower profitability than privately owned banks, in spite of their lower costs. Second, public sector banks have poorer loan quality and higher insolvency risk than other types of banks while mutual banks have better loan quality and lower asset risk than both private and public sector banks. Finally, while ownership concentration does not significantly affect a bank’s profitability, a higher ownership concentration is associated with better loan quality, lower asset risk and lower insolvency risk. These differences, along with differences in asset composition and funding mix, indicate a different financial intermediation model for the different ownership forms.     

Does better capitalization enhance bank efficiency and limit risk taking? Evidence from ASEAN commercial banks

This paper assesses the dynamic causal relationships among bank risk, capital, and efficiency. Using a panel dataset of commercial banks in five ASEAN countries from 2005 to 2015, we employ panel vector autoregression analysis to take into account the endogeneity and interdependencies of these three variables while holding other shocks constant. We find that in general, better capitalized banks in ASEAN countries are more efficient and take less credit risk. However, high-efficiency banks tend to maintain low levels of capital, whereas low-efficiency banks have higher capital ratios. We also analyze the sensitivity of the relationships among capital, risk, and efficiency to ownership structure, bank size, and the periods before and after the 2008 crisis.     

Foreign banks and trade

Exploiting unique, time-varying, bilateral data on bank ownership for many countries, we show that exports tend to be larger when a foreign bank from the importing country is present. Entry of a foreign bank also boosts export growth to the home country of the foreign bank relative to other countries, especially when foreign bank presence in the country is large and bilateral cross-border lending low. We find supportive evidence that foreign banks facilitate trade by reducing financial frictions for firms. Entry spurs exports to the foreign bank's home country especially in sectors more dependent on external finance, and particularly so in countries less economically and financially developed and with a higher share of foreign banks. Imports of external finance dependent sectors also grow more after entry, but less so than exports do. Exit of a foreign bank does not fully eliminate the beneficial effects of prior foreign bank presence on exports.     

Politicians and banks: Political influences on government-owned banks in emerging markets

Government ownership of banks is very common in countries other than the United States. This paper provides cross-country, bank-level empirical evidence about political influences on these banks. It shows that government-owned banks increase their lending in election years relative to private banks. This effect is robust to controlling for country-specific macroeconomic and institutional factors as well as bank-specific factors. The increase in lending is about 11% of a government-owned bank's total loan portfolio or about 0.5% of the median country's GDP per election per government-owned bank.     

Cost efficiency of banks in transition: Evidence from 289 banks in 15 post-communist countries

To understand the transformation of banking in the post-communist transition, we examine the cost efficiency of 289 banks in 15 East European countries. We find that banking systems in which foreign-owned banks have a larger share of total assets have lower costs and that the association between a country’s progress in banking reform and cost efficiency is non-linear. Early stages of reform are associated with cost reductions, while costs tend to rise at more advanced stages. Private banks are more efficient than state-owned banks, but there are differences among private banks. Privatised banks with majority foreign ownership are the most efficient and those with domestic ownership are the least.     

Are foreign banks more profitable than domestic banks? Home- and host-country effects of banking market structure, governance, and supervision

Using both bank- and country-level data on banking sectors from 70 countries over the period 1992-2006, this paper empirically investigates the joint home- and host-country effects of banking market structure, macroeconomic condition, governance, and changes in bank supervision on foreign bank margins. We find that foreign banks are more profitable than domestic banks when they operate in a host country whose banking sector is less competitive and when the parent bank in the home country is highly profitable. Moreover, when foreign banks operate in a host country with lower growth rates of GDP, higher interest and inflation rates, and more stringent regulatory compliance with Basel risk weights, their margins increase. Specifically, changes in bank supervision of a parent bank’s ownership restrictiveness in the home country significantly increases foreign bank margins, while supervisory changes in regulatory compliance with Basel risk weights in the host country enhances foreign bank margins.     

中东欧转轨国家外资持股比例与银行竞争力、金融安全关系的实证考察

近年来我国银行业引进境外战略投资者的行为引发了理论界关于外资持股比例对中资银行竞争力提升与国家金融安全影响的争论。本文选取与我国具有相似的银行业改革历程、但改革先于我国的中东欧转轨国家为样本,实证考察这些国家外资持股比例与银行竞争力提升和金融安全之间的关系。得出的基本结论是:外资持股比例与银行竞争力的提升具有一定的联系,但并不十分紧密;从金融与经济关系的视角考察外资持股比例与金融安全的关系,并不能得出外资持股比例越高的银行对金融安全的威胁性越大的结论。     

所有权结构对我国银行业绩的影响研究

本文运用我国29家银行2000-2010年业绩及所有权结构指标定量地衡量了所有权结构对银行的盈利能力、资产质量和净利润增长率产生的静态效应、选择效应和动态效应。研究结果表明,在静态效应方面,业绩最优的是城市商业银行;在选择效应方面,被选择进行股份制改革的银行之前业绩较差,被境外投资者选择的银行之前业绩则较好;在动态效应方面,股份制改革和公开上市有利于银行资本充足率的提升。最后本文提出发展城市商业银行体系、健全现代化经营管理体制、规范并加强资本充足率的管理、引入战略投资者以优化银行所有权结构、促进银行业绩增长等建议。     

Governance and bank valuation

This paper assesses the impact of the ownership structure of banks and shareholder protection laws on bank valuations while controlling for differences in bank regulations. Except in a few countries with very strong shareholder protection laws, banks are not widely held. Rather, families or the State control banks. Furthermore, (i) larger cash-flow rights by the controlling owner boost valuations, (ii) stronger shareholder protection laws increase valuations, and (iii) greater cash-flow rights mitigate the adverse effects of weak shareholder protection laws on valuations. These results suggest that ownership structure is an important mechanism for governing banks.     

Bank reforms,foreign ownership,and financial stability

Numerous studies have focused on foreign ownership of banks, but instead of linkages to financial stability, they typically analyzed other issues and used country-level data. This article fills the gap in the literature by applying the GMM techniques on dynamic panels using bank-level data for Asian countries to investigate the impact of foreign ownership on financial stability, as well as whether the relation between foreign ownership and stability changes under different conditions of bank reforms in the host country. Specifically, we reach five conclusions. First, the existence of the home field advantage hypothesis is supported; nevertheless, when considering the effects of bank reforms, the global advantage hypothesis holds. Second, an inverse U-shaped relation between foreign ownership and stability is supported. Third, a higher degree of credit control liberalization mitigates the negative effect of foreign ownership on stability. Fourth, liberalization of interest rate control and banking supervision do enhance stability. Fifth and finally, we confirm a significantly negative relation between an explicit deposit and stability.