Comparative efficiency analysis of Portuguese bank branches

The advent of Internet banking and phone banking is changing the role of bank branches from a predominantly transaction-based one to a sales-oriented role. This paper reports on an assessment of the branches of a Portuguese bank in terms of their performance in their new roles in three different areas: Their efficiency in fostering the use of new transaction channels, their efficiency in increasing sales and their customer base, and their efficiency in generating profits. Service quality is also a major issue in service organisations like bank branches, and therefore we analyse the way this dimension of performance has been accounted for in the literature and take it into account in our empirical application. We have used data envelopment analysis (DEA) for the different performance assessments, but we depart from traditional DEA models in some cases. Performance comparisons on each dimension allowed us to identify benchmark bank branches and also problematic bank branches. In addition, we found positive links between operational and profit efficiency and also between transactional and operational efficiency. Service quality is positively related with operational and profit efficiency. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Data envelopment analysis in financial services: a citations network analysis of banks, insurance companies and money market funds

Development and application of the data envelopment analysis (DEA) method, have been the subject of numerous reviews. In this paper, we consider the papers that apply DEA methods specifically to financial services, or which use financial services data to experiment with a newly introduced DEA model. We examine 620 papers published in journals indexed in the Web of Science database, from 1985 to April 2016. We analyse the sample applying citations network analysis. This paper investigates the DEA method and its applications in financial services. We analyse the diffusion of DEA in three sub-samples: (1) banking groups, (2) money market funds, and (3) insurance groups by identifying the main paths, that is, the main flows of the ideas underlying each area of research. This allows us to highlight the main approaches, models and efficiency types used in each research areas. No unique methodological preference emerges within these areas. Innovations in the DEA methodologies (network models, slacks based models, directional distance models and Nash bargaining game) clearly dominate recent research. For each subsample, we describe the geographical distribution of these studies, and provide some basic statistics related to the most active journals and scholars

A goal programming model for bank assets and liabilities management

Assets and liabilities management is one of the most important issues in bank strategic planning. In the past, this problem has often been addressed through conventional mathematical programming, i.e. linear programming. However, bank management typically involves several conflicting goals, such as the maximisation of returns, minimisation of risk, expansion of deposits and loans, etc. The complexity of this problem can be captured more adequately by multiobjective mathematical programming. This paper discusses the construction and application at the Commercial Bank of Greece of a goal programming model that takes into account the essential institutional, financial, legal and bank policy considerations. © 1991

Assessing academic department efficiency at a public university

The assessment of public universities has gained importance because of the demands from such state government bodies as the executive and the legislature. Public universities are increasingly being asked to account for how efficiently they have used diminishing state financial resources. Administrators thus have the responsibility of ensuring that the university's financial, human, and physical resources are allocated to academic departments in a manner that enhances the institution's efficiency. In this paper, data envelopment analysis (DEA) is proposed for evaluating the efficiency of academic departments at a public university. DEA provides a single measure of efficiency for each academic unit. It also identifies the causes behind the inefficiencies exhibited by poor performing units, as well as the changes that these units need to make in order to improve their efficiencies. Its usefulness as a planning tool is also discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.