Efficiency in the Czech banking industry: A non-parametric approach

Abstract

This paper estimates the efficiency of the Czech commercial banks in the period 2001–2010 using the non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis. We simultaneously use two alternative specifications – CCR model and BCR model – that differ in returns to scale assumption. Differences in estimated efficiency scores of individual banks are quite large up to 70 percentage points. Largest banks perform significantly worse than mid-size and small banks. This efficiency gap decreases if variable returns to scale are considered in the estimation. The average efficiency in the banking sector remained nearly unchanged during the analysed period. Although each year is estimated separately one can observe a deterioration of average efficiency during the recent crisis period