Estimating the technical and scale efficiency of.pdf

Research in International Business and Finance 22 (2008) 301–318 Available online at Estimating the technical and scale efficiency of Greek commercial banks: The impact of credit risk, off-balance sheet activities, and international operations Fotios Pasiouras ? University of Bath, School of Management, Bath BA27AY, United Kingdom Received 14 April 2007; received in revised form 11 September 2007; accepted 14 September 2007 Available online 18 September 2007 Abstract This paper uses data envelopment analysis (DEA) to investigate the efficiency of the Greek commercial banking industry over the period 2000–2004. Our results indicate that the inclusion of loan loss provisions as an input increases the efficiency scores, but off-balance sheet items do not have a significant impact. The differences between the efficiency scores obtained through the profit-oriented and the intermediation approaches are in general small. Banks that have expanded their operations abroad appear to be more technical efficient than those operating only at a national level. Higher capitalization, loan activity, and market power increase the efficiency of banks. The number of branches has a positive and significant impact on efficiency, but the number of ATMs does not. The results are mixed with respect to variables indicating whether the banks are operating abroad through subsidiaries or branches. ? 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. JEL classification: G21; C24; C67; D61 Keywords: Banks; DEA; Efficiency; Greece 1. Introduction The Greek banking sector has undergone major restructuring in recent years. Important struc- tural, policy and environmental changes that are frequently highlighted by both academics and ? Tel.: +44 1225384297. E-mail address: f.pasiouras@bath.ac.uk. 0275-5319/$ – see front matter ? 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ribaf.2007.09.002 302 F. Pasiouras / Research in International Business and Finance 22 (2008) 301–318 practitioners are the establi