It is a common place that during financial crises, like the one started in 2007, authorities provide substantial financial support to some problem banks, whilst at the same time let several others to go bankrupt. Is this happening because some particular banks are considered important and big...

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between banking sector reform and bank performance – measured in terms of efficiency, total factor productivity growth and net interest margin – accounting for the effects through competition and bank risk-taking. To this end, we develop...

On 11-12 November 2008, SUERF and Banque Centrale du Luxembourg organized a conference on Productivity in the Financial Services Sector on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Banque Centrale du Luxembourg.The conference addressed three main themes: first, stylized facts on banks'...

Purpose - This paper aims to analyze bank efficiency into a number of bank-specific, industry-specific and macroeconomic determinants. Design/methodology/approach -The authors follow a semi-parametric two-stage methodology, where productive efficiency is derived via a non-parametric technique in...