The European banking industry is undergoing significant structural changes and cost-cutting programs, also as a result of the financial crisis. Yet, the institutional features that affect banks’ ability to adjust costs and in particular personnel expenses, which comprise a significant part of...

This paper examines the relationship between operating performance and various bank, market and macro characteristics in the new, enlarged, European banking landscape over the period 1998-2005. We investigate whether there are differences between old and new European Union member states, across...

This paper opts for the stochastic frontier methodology to investigate the impact of structural reforms on profit efficiency in the banking industry of four new European Union Member States over the period 1999-2003. Our findings suggest that reforms in the banking market are of vital importance...