An empirical investigation of operating performance in the new European banking landscape

This paper examines the relationship between operating performance and various bank, market and macro characteristics in the new, enlarged, European banking landscape over the period 1998-2005. We investigate whether there are differences between old and new European Union member states, across countries and across banks of various size-classes and ownership structure. Indeed, the results reveal that there are significant differences. The decomposition of total operating expenses further confirms this conclusion.