Local financial factors influencing activities of Greek cooperative banks

Abstract

This paper examines the influence of local conditions on banking activities focusing on the case of 14 cooperative banks in Greece for the period 1999-2007. These banks have been chosen because of their local character and consequently they are more influenced by local conditions in comparison to banks having a national and even international network. Local conditions could be endogenous and exogenous to the bank. The endogenous to the bank are the banking network developed locally or regionally, and the members of the banks who are the main part of the banks’ clientele. A macroeconomic and exogenous to the bank condition is the amount of savings in the prefecture in which the cooperative bank operates. The banking activities which have been examined include the deposits and loans constituting the main part of banking activities of cooperative banks in Greece. The growth of the banking network is the main factor of growth of the bank’s activities; growth of cooperatives’ members and the growth of the local savings have a positive but less important influence on cooperative banks’ activities