IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/manchs/v74y2006i4p441-468.html

Bank Competition, Concentration And Efficiency In The Single European Market

Author

Listed:
  • BARBARA CASU
  • CLAUDIA GIRARDONE

Abstract

The deregulation of financial services in the European Union (EU), together with the establishment of the Economic and Monetary Union, aimed at the creation of a level playing‐field in the provision of banking services across the EU. The plan was to remove entry barriers and to foster both competition and efficiency in national banking markets. However, one of the effects of the regulatory changes was to spur a trend towards consolidation, resulting in the recent wave of mergers and acquisitions. To investigate the impact of increased consolidation on the competitive conditions of the EU banking markets, we employ both structural (concentration ratios) and non‐structural (Panzar–Rosse statistic) concentration measures. Using bank‐level balance sheet data for the major EU banking markets, in a period following the introduction of the Single Banking Licence (1997–2003), this paper also investigates the factors that may influence the competitive conditions. Specifically, we control for differences in efficiency estimates, structural conditions and institutional characteristics. The results seem to suggest that the degree of concentration is not necessarily related to the degree of competition. We also find little evidence that more efficient banking systems are also more competitive. The relationship between competition and efficiency is not a straightforward one: increased competition has forced banks to become more efficient but increased efficiency does not seem to be fostering more competitive EU banking systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Barbara Casu & Claudia Girardone, 2006. "Bank Competition, Concentration And Efficiency In The Single European Market," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 74(4), pages 441-468, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:manchs:v:74:y:2006:i:4:p:441-468
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9957.2006.00503.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9957.2006.00503.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1467-9957.2006.00503.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Simon H. Kwan & James A. Wilcox, 1999. "Hidden cost reductions in bank mergers: accounting for more productive banks," Proceedings 621, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    2. Vesala, Jukka, 1995. "Testing for competition in banking : Behavioral evidence from Finland," Scientific Monographs, Bank of Finland, number 1995_001.
    3. Baumol, William J, 1982. "Contestable Markets: An Uprising in the Theory of Industry Structure," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(1), pages 1-15, March.
    4. Fried, Harold O. & Lovell, C. A. Knox & Schmidt, Shelton S. (ed.), 1993. "The Measurement of Productive Efficiency: Techniques and Applications," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195072181.
    5. Jacob A. Bikker, 2004. "Competition and Efficiency in a Unified European Banking Market," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2830, August.
    6. Allen N. Berger & Loretta J. Mester, 1997. "Efficiency and productivity change in the U.S. commercial banking industry: a comparison of the 1980s and 1990s," Working Papers 97-5, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Elena Beccalli & Barbara Casu & Claudia Girardone, 2006. "Efficiency and Stock Performance in European Banking," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(1‐2), pages 245-262, January.
    2. Li, Shaofang & Marinč, Matej, 2016. "Competition in the clearing and settlement industry," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 134-162.
    3. Jacob A. Bikker & Laura Spierdijk & Paul Finnie, 2006. "The Impact of Bank Size on Market Power," DNB Working Papers 120, Netherlands Central Bank, Research Department.
    4. Jacob A. Bikker & Dirk W.G.A. Broeders & Dirk Jan de Dreu, 2010. "Stock Market Performance and Pension Fund Investment Policy: Rebalancing, Free Float, or Market Timing?," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 6(2), pages 53-79, June.
    5. J.A. Bikker & L. Spierdijk & P. Finnie, 2007. "The Impact of Market Structure, Contestability and Institutional Environment on Banking Competition," Working Papers 07-29, Utrecht School of Economics.
    6. K. -L. Wang & Y. -T. Tseng & C. -C. Weng, 2003. "A study of production efficiencies of integrated securities firms in Taiwan," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(3), pages 159-167.
    7. Carbó, Santiago & Humphrey, David & Maudos, Joaquín & Molyneux, Philip, 2009. "Cross-country comparisons of competition and pricing power in European banking," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 115-134, February.
    8. Park, Kang H., 2016. "How Competitive and Stable is the Commercial Banking Industry in China after Bank Reforms?," KDI Journal of Economic Policy, Korea Development Institute (KDI), vol. 38(1), pages 53-70.
    9. Shin, Dong Jin & Kim, Brian H.S., 2013. "Bank consolidation and competitiveness: Empirical evidence from the Korean banking industry," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 41-50.
    10. Mulyaningsih, Tri & Daly, Anne & Miranti, Riyana, 2015. "Foreign participation and banking competition: Evidence from the Indonesian banking industry," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 70-82.
    11. van Zyl, Johan & Binswanger, Hans & Thirtle, Colin, 1995. "The relationship between farm size and efficiency in South African agriculture," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1548, The World Bank.
    12. Davis, E. Philip & De Bandt, Olivier, 1999. "A cross-country comparison of market structures in European banking," Working Paper Series 7, European Central Bank.
    13. Sakano, Ryoichi & Obeng, Kofi, 2011. "Examining the Inefficiency of Transit Systems Using Latent Class Stochastic Frontier Models," Journal of the Transportation Research Forum, Transportation Research Forum, vol. 50(2).
    14. Tai-Hsin Huang & Nan-Hung Liu, 2014. "Bank competition in transition countries: Are those markets really in equilibrium?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 47(4), pages 1283-1316, December.
    15. Carol Ann Northcott, 2004. "Competition in Banking: A Review of the Literature," Staff Working Papers 04-24, Bank of Canada.
    16. J. A. Bikker & M. van Leuvensteijn, 2008. "Competition and efficiency in the Dutch life insurance industry," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(16), pages 2063-2084.
    17. Daley, Jenifer & Matthews, Kent, 2012. "Competitive conditions in the Jamaican banking market 1998–2009," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 131-135.
    18. Michiel van Leuvensteijn & J.A. Bikker, 2005. "An exploration into competition and efficiency in the Dutch life insurance industry," CPB Discussion Paper 48, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    19. Anca Pruteanu-Podpiera & Jiří Podpiera, 2008. "The Czech transition banking sector instability: the role of operational cost management," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 41(3), pages 209-219, September.
    20. Abdul Majid, Muhamed Zulkhibri & Sufian, Fadzlan, 2007. "Market Structure and Competition in Emerging Market: Evidence from Malaysian Islamic Banking Industry," MPRA Paper 12126, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 01 Jul 2007.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:manchs:v:74:y:2006:i:4:p:441-468. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/semanuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.