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Measuring commercial bank efficiency : use and misuse of bank operating ratios

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  • Vittas, Dimitri

Abstract

Measuring bank efficiency is difficult because there is no satisfactory definition of bank output. Neither the number of accounts nor total assets, total loans, nor total deposits provide a good index of output. Moreover, the value added of banks - given by their labor costs and profits - measures both the output and cost of banking. Many analysts use accounting data on bank margins, costs and profits as measures of bank efficiency. But the usefulness of such data is undermined by substantial structural and accounting differences across countries, among individual banks and over time. Great caution and extensive knowledge of local banking conditions are required to interpret bank ratios. The author uses three sets of operating ratios to discuss the impact of differences in structure and practice on bank performance: operating asset ratios; operating income ratios; and operating equity ratios. The author also uses return-on-equity (ROE) analysis to highlight the effects of differences in banking structure and practice. The author's analysis is applied to the performance of banks in OECD countries in the 1980s. The analysis has major implications for assessing bank performance in developing countries, where inflation, higher risk, and operating inefficiencies often cause cost and other bank ratios to be generally higher than in OECD countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Vittas, Dimitri, 1991. "Measuring commercial bank efficiency : use and misuse of bank operating ratios," Policy Research Working Paper Series 806, The World Bank.
  • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:806
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. John V. Duca & Mary M. McLaughlin, 1990. "Developments affecting the profitability of commercial banks," Federal Reserve Bulletin, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.), issue Jul, pages 477-499.
    2. William C. Hunter & Stephen G. Timme, 1990. "Employment in the world's largest banks," Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, issue Jan, pages 2-11.
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    1. Demirgüç-Kunt, Asli & Huizinga, Harry, 2001. "The taxation of domestic and foreign banking," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(3), pages 429-453, March.
    2. Vittas, Dimitri & Demirguc-Kunt, Asli & Musalem, Alberto, 1993. "North American free trade agreement : issues on trade in financial services for Mexico," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1153, The World Bank.
    3. Sakouvogui Kekoura & Shaik Saleem & Addey Kwame Asiam, 2020. "Cluster-Adjusted DEA Efficiency in the presence of Heterogeneity: An Application to Banking Sector," Open Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 3(1), pages 50-69, January.
    4. Claessens, Stijn & Demirguc-Kunt, Asl[iota] & Huizinga, Harry, 2001. "How does foreign entry affect domestic banking markets?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 891-911, May.
    5. van Greuning, Hennie & Gallardo, Joselito & Randhawa, Bikki, 1999. "A framework for regulating microfinance institutions," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2061, The World Bank.
    6. Shiwakoti, Radha K. & Iqbal, Abdullah & Funnell, Warwick, 2018. "Organizational form, business strategies and the demise of demutualized building societies in the UK," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 337-350.
    7. Mr. Wim Fonteyne, 2007. "Cooperative Banks in Europe—Policy Issues," IMF Working Papers 2007/159, International Monetary Fund.
    8. -, 1993. "Finance and the real economy: issues and case studies in developing countries," Sede de la CEPAL en Santiago (Estudios e Investigaciones) 30181, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    9. Demirguc, Asli & Huizinga, Harry, 1999. "Determinants of Commercial Bank Interest Margins and Profitability: Some International Evidence," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 13(2), pages 379-408, May.
    10. Mai, Nhat Chi, 2015. "Efficiency of the banking system in Vietnam under financial liberalization," OSF Preprints qsf6d, Center for Open Science.
    11. Lloyd Kenward, 1997. "Financial Deregulation and the Cost Structure of State and Private Banks in Indonesia: Some Evidence from Microeconomic Data," Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(3), pages 63-78.
    12. Mathur, Ike & Marcelin, Isaac, 2015. "Institutional failure or market failure?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 266-280.
    13. Buch, Claudia M., 1995. "The emerging financial systems of the Eastern European economics: A progress report," Kiel Working Papers 716, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    14. Lukasz Konopielko, 1999. "Foreign Banks' Entry into Central and East European Markets: Motives and Activities," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(4), pages 463-485.
    15. Chantal Herberholz, 2008. "The Foreign Bank Effect On Value Creation In Commercial Banks Incorporated In Thailand," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 53(02), pages 215-244.

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