The recent years have been extremely difficult for banks. Competition has increased and, in addition, last year the global financial market crisis hit the industry, from which many banks did not recover yet. As a consequence, financial institutions are looking for ways to cut costs and to...

In the light of fierce international competition is essential for banks to face the problem of productivity. But what are the real levels of productivity and how can it be measured? The most common index of productivity and efficiency is the cost income ratio (CIR), which nevertheless proves...