Malmquist Indices of Productivity Change in Australian Financial Services

In this study the nature and extent of efficiency and productivity growth in deposit-taking institutions is investigated using nonparametric frontier techniques. Employing Malmquist indices, productivity growth is decomposed into technical efficiency change and technological change for two hundred and sixty-nine Australian credit unions. The results indicate that most credit unions experienced technological progress after deregulation, and that any efficiency gain found was largely the result of improvements in technical efficiency rather than scale efficiency. That productivity growth which did occur due to an increase in efficiency over the period tended to be in credit unions with a small number of members and a large asset base, whilst technical progress was most pronounced in institutions with a relatively high proportion of residential and commercial loans.