IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/manchs/v74y2006i4p441-468.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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. 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.
    3. repec:zbw:bofism:1995_001 is not listed on IDEAS
    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.
    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. 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.
    3. E Philip Davis & Dilruba Karim & Dennison Noel, 2019. "Bank Leverage Ratios, Risk and Competition - An Investigation Using Individual Bank Data," National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Discussion Papers 499, National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
    4. IJtsma, Pieter & Spierdijk, Laura & Shaffer, Sherrill, 2017. "The concentration–stability controversy in banking: New evidence from the EU-25," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 273-284.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. 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).
    8. Rakesh Arrawatia & Arun Misra & Varun Dawar & Debasish Maitra, 2019. "Bank Competition in India: Some New Evidence Using Risk-Adjusted Lerner Index Approach," Risks, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-12, April.
    9. 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.
    10. 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.
    11. 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.
    12. Barbara Casu & Claudia Girardone, 2004. "Large banks' efficiency in the single European market," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(6), pages 129-142, November.
    13. 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.
    14. 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.
    15. Cullinane, Kevin & Song, Dong-Wook, 2006. "Estimating the Relative Efficiency of European Container Ports: A Stochastic Frontier Analysis," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 85-115, January.
    16. 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.
    17. Lozano-Vivas, Ana & Pastor, Jesús T., 2010. "Do performance and environmental conditions act as barriers for cross-border banking in Europe?," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 275-282, October.
    18. Dong, Yizhe & Hamilton, Robert & Tippett, Mark, 2014. "Cost efficiency of the Chinese banking sector: A comparison of stochastic frontier analysis and data envelopment analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 298-308.
    19. Cullinane, Kevin & Wang, Teng-Fei, 2006. "Chapter 23 Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Improving Container Port Efficiency," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 517-566, January.
    20. 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.

    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.