The Polish banking industry has been transformed since the country’s transition to a
market economy which began at the end of the 1980s. The industry has now
developed and expanded to encompass more than 60 participants and it can thus be
described today as a relatively competitive market. Against this background, this
paper evaluates the financial performance of the industry over time, based on the ten
largest Polish banks that represent around 80 percent of the total sector in terms of
assets. In particular, cost efficiency of the banks is analyzed on the basis of six
production models. Efficiency scores are obtained using Data Envelopment Window
Analysis between 1995-2003 period, using intertemporal and locally intertemporal
data. Productivity changes within the sector are investigated using the Malmquist
Index approach