This paper is drawn from the use of data envelopment analysis (DEA) in helping a Portuguese bank to manage the performance of its branches. The bank wanted to set targets for the branches on such variables as growth in number of clients, growth in funds deposited and so on. Such variables can take positive and negative values but apart from some exceptions, traditional DEA models have hitherto been restricted to non-negative data. We report on the development of a model to handle unrestricted data in a DEA framework and illustrate the use of this model on data from the bank concerned.

The efficiency literature, both using parametric and non-parametric methods, has been focusing mainly on cost efficiency analysis rather than on profit efficiency. In for-profit organisations, however, the measurement of profit efficiency and its decomposition into technical and allocative efficiency is particularly relevant. In this paper a newly developed method is used to measure profit efficiency and to identify the sources of any shortfall in profitability (technical and/or allocative inefficiency). The method is applied to a set of Portuguese bank branches first assuming long run and then a short run profit maximisation objective. In the long run most of the scope for profit improvement of bank branches is by becoming more allocatively efficient. In the short run most of profit gain can be realised through higher technical efficiency.

Traditional approaches to calculate total factor productivity (TFP) change through Malmquist indexes rely on distance functions. In this paper we show that the use of distance functions as a means to calculate TFP change may introduce some bias in the analysis, and therefore we propose a procedure that calculates TFP change through observed values only. Our total TFP change is then decomposed into efficiency change, technological change, and a residual effect. This decomposition makes use of a non-oriented measure in order to avoid problems associated with the traditional use of radial oriented measures, especially when variable returns to scale technologies are to be compared. The proposed approach is applied in this paper to a sample of Portuguese bank branches.

Recently, developing countries have witnessed a sharp increase in foreign bank participation. The authors examine the impact on banking outreach using newly gathered data for Mexico, where foreign bank participation rose from 2 percent to 83 percent of assets during 1997-2005. Country-, bank-, and bank-municipality level estimations show a decline in the number of deposit and loan accounts. While country- and bank-level estimations indicate an increase in the share of municipalities with bank branches and in the likelihood of bank presence, bank-municipality regressions show that only rich and urban municipalities benefited. Overall, the evidence is consistent with a decline in outreach.

Previous empirical analyses have found that bank privatizations are more successful when the government fully relinquishes control, when the bank is privatized to a strategic investor, and when foreign-owned banks are allowed to participate in the bidding. The privatization of Uganda Commercial Bank (UCB) to the South African bank Stanbic met all these criteria, suggesting that it is a likely candidate for success. But other features suggest reasons for caution: UCB dominated the Ugandan banking sector prior to privatization and the institutional environment in Uganda was less favorable than in many of the middle-income countries looked at in earlier empirical studies. Despite these concerns, the privatization appears to have been relatively successful. The portfolio of the privatized bank, which was cleaned prior to sale, remains relatively strong and profitability and credit growth are now on par with other Ugandan banks. Though market segmentation remains a concern since Stanbic faces little or no direct competition in many remote areas...

This report was prepared in close collaboration with the Bank of Albania. This report focused on trade, services, and agriculture; however, the limited scope of their operations still leaves a potentially large unmet demand for credit in agriculture. This report focuses on problems related to the operation of Immovable Property Registry System (IPRS) and other institutions and the formalization of property rights and inscription of mortgages. This study believes the reform with most optimum impact on sustainable credit growth will be focused on (i) improving the quality, breadth, and depth of financial intermediation, (ii) growth and development of credit unions and microfinance institutions, and (iii) facilitate the development of new instruments. The authorities will also focus on implementing reforms to become compliant with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendation.

Just before the 2008-09 global financial crisis, policymakers were concerned about the rapid growth of bank credit, particularly in Europe; now worry centers on a potential global credit crunch led by European banking institutions. Overall, credit conditions across Europe deteriorated markedly in late 2011. Spillover effects are being felt around the globe and imply significant channels through which deleveraging could have disruptive consequences for credit conditions in emerging markets, particularly in emerging Europe. Significant liquidity support provided by the European Central Bank was a "game changer," at least in the short term, as it helped revive markets and limited the risk of disorderly deleveraging. However, the extent, speed, and impact of European bank deleveraging remain highly dependent on the evolution of economic growth and market conditions, which in turn are guided by the ultimate impact of European Central Bank liquidity support, resolution of the sovereign debt crisis within the Euro Area, and the ability of the European rescue fund to provide an effective firewall against contagion.

Although the Albanian financial system withstood the shocks of 2008 global crisis relatively well, it continues to operate in highly uncertain macroeconomic environment, which triggers increased vulnerabilities in the system. The decline in profitability, growing non-performing loans (NPLs), substantial level of euroization, continued deleveraging of foreign bank subsidiaries and significant investments in government bonds in the absence of active secondary market are the main challenges that banking system faces. Given strong trade and financial links with euro area, the financial system and real sector in general are increasingly vulnerable to external shocks as well. Since 2007 the Bank of Albania (BoA) has introduced several macro-prudential measures to safeguard financial stability in the country. Higher risk weights and stricter loan-to-value and debt-to-income ratios were placed on banks surpassing twin limits on the rate of credit growth and NPL levels. A second set of macro-prudential policies was put in place in late 2011 to limit contagion risks and international spillovers: (i) foreign bank branches were converted into subsidiaries; (ii) liquidity regulations were tightened; and (iii) the regulation on related-party exposure was enhanced. In addition to that...

The early start of the process of bank restructuring and privatization in Hungary provides a longer and richer amount of evidence than that available for any other transition economy. The authors analyze the dynamics of bank restructuring in Hungary with a focus on the role played by foreign ownership. They explore the performance over time of foreign-owned Hungarian banks and study the extent to which efficiency gains are affected by the chosen acquisition strategy-strategic acquisition in contrast with investment in a newly established bank (greenfield investment)-or by the management style adopted after the acquisition. The authors supplement previous results on the effects of foreign bank ownership in three ways. First, they explicitly consider the time span required for the change of ownership to affect bank performance. Second, the authors explore how important the chosen acquisition strategy is for the success of an acquisition. And third, they study how relevant the adopted management style is to this end, as proxied by the degree of reliance on foreign management.

The purpose of the paper is to present a more granular view of such projects through the in-depth focus on a limited number of case studies, with a view to understanding what factors in the design of such lending have helped achieve objectives of expanded access, and what forms of interventions may have been less successful. It examines the nature of Bank lending vehicles, the partnering borrower institutions, the country environments in which its loans were extended, as well as broader elements of good practice that make for loan success. It examines the beneficiaries targeted and results achieved. It aims to draws lessons that suggest what factors could lead to success or failure in Bank operations focused on financial access. The remainder of the paper is organized as follows: section two briefly describes the set of the Bank s projects selected for detailed review. Sections three to six contain the core findings of the review. Section 3 focuses on alternative forms of borrower institutions that have served as vehicles for Bank projects...

This Technical Note was prepared in the context of a joint World Bank-IMF Financial Sector Assessment Program mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina during October – November, 2014. The FSAP team found the DIA is to be Compliant or Largely Compliant with 12 out of 16 applicable Core Principles and Materially Non-Compliant with three Core Principles. The team found a number of areas where some deficiencies exist in the deposit insurance system and financial safety-net arrangements and accordingly is proposing a corrective action plan to address these areas.

The purpose of this paper is to report on the level of access to formal financial services in the Kyrgyz Republic, assess the key obstacles to improving access, and make recommendations to overcome these obstacles. The paper is organized as follows. Sections II to IV examine the supply of financial services. Specifically, section II presents a profile of financial intermediation by banks, focusing their supply of financial services, particularly lending and deposits. Section III presents a profile of lending by Aiyl Bank, a specialized bank with a limited license, which is mandated to lend for agriculture. Section IV presents a profile of lending by non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs), including microfinance organizations (MFOs) and credit unions. Section V examines the demand side for financial services, drawing on enterprise surveys to assess firms' perceptions of their access to finance. Section VI presents a brief analysis of the impact of the events of April 2010 on access to finance. Section VII discusses key obstacles in increasing access to finance from banks and NBFIs. Section VIII concludes with policy recommendations that derive from the preceding analysis.

The development of a far reaching correspondent banking network is one of the key factors behind Brazil's success story in financial inclusion. Between 2005 and 2011, the number of correspondents approximately doubled to more than 160,000. The Central Bank encouraged financial institutions to reach out to more distant consumers and to communities where they had not previously been active, including lower income areas, through partnerships with a variety of retail establishments including some with public ties such as the post office network and lottery agencies. Regulators have gradually reduced restrictions on correspondent banking, such as individual approval processes, in response to early successes with this program. The legal framework also facilitated healthy expansion by putting the onus on regulated institutions to train and monitor their correspondents. This Technical Note (TN) does not include an analysis of the causes underlying Brazil's continued high credit cost but many of the issues discussed here may be contributing factors. These include the lack of savings and related dependence on credit which may reduce price elasticity in credit markets; information asymmetries which add to the cost of credit evaluation and increase risk for lenders; and competition issues (as with mobile payments and the so-called no-surcharge-rule on payment methods). The Aide Memoire for the FSAP mission provides further discussion of these important issues.

In an international context, this paper analyzes the main drivers of Brazil's bank spreads measured by the net interest margin, by estimating internationally comparable measures for (i) institutional and regulatory (micro-) factors; (ii) macro-economic factors; and (iii) banking competition factors. The paper produces and applies a novel data set covering 197 areas and countries; ranging from 1995 to 2009, including 106 banks for Brazil and 16,434 banks worldwide. The analysis finds that micro-factors are the main drivers of spreads across the world. In the case of Brazil, the spread is found to be strongly accounted for by micro-factors -- also in international comparison. For example, micro-factors contributed 7.2 percentage points (79 percent) of the 11.5 percent total spread in Brazil in 2009, while macro-factors and banking competition factors jointly accounted for only 1.9 percentage points (21 percent). Conversely, Brazil does not rank high in international comparison in terms of macro-economic risk: Brazil and other countries from Latin America and the Caribbean are found to feature the highest micro-factors in the world while having the second-highest spreads and the second-lowest contribution of macro-factors. These unique findings suggest that countries striving toward reducing bank spreads should consider policies aimed at reducing microeconomic frictions in their banking sectors...

Profitability improvements after the privatization of a large state-owned bank might come at the expense of reduced access to financial services for some groups, especially the rural poor. The privatization of Tanzania's National Bank of Commerce provides a unique episode for studying this issue. The bank was split into the "new" National Bank of Commerce, a commercial bank that assumed most of the original bank's assets and liabilities, and the National Microfinance Bank, which assumed most of the branch network and the mandate to foster access to financial services. The new National Bank of Commerce's profitability and portfolio quality improved although credit growth was slow, in line with privatization experiences in other developing countries. Finding a buyer for the National Microfinance Bank proved very difficult, although after years under contract management by private banking consultants, Rabobank of the Netherlands emerged as a purchaser. Profitability has since improved and lending has slowly grown...

The authors examine the factors that influence banks' type of organizational form when operating in foreign markets using an original database of the branches and subsidiaries in Latin America and Eastern Europe of the top 100 international banks. They find that regulation, taxation, the degree of desired penetration in the local market, and host-country economic and political risks matter. Banks are more likely to operate as branches in countries that have higher corporate taxes and when they face lower regulatory restrictions on bank entry, in general, and on foreign branches, in particular. Subsidiaries are the preferred organizational form by banks that seek to penetrate the local market establishing large and mostly retail operations. Finally, there is evidence that economic and political risks have opposite effects on the type of organizational form, suggesting that legal differences in the degree of parent bank responsibility vis-à-vis branches and subsidiaries under different risk scenarios play an important role in the kind of operations international banks maintain overseas

The Bangladesh financial system, particularly banking and microfinance, has grown and developed since 2003 against the backdrop of 6 percent average Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth. Banks' total assets and private credit ratios to GDP have each increased by about one-third since the 2003 Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP). Bank deposits, as a percentage of GDP, are comparable to other South Asian countries. Private domestic banks now hold a majority of bank assets; the shares of state-owned commercial banks (SCBs) and specialized banks (SBs) have declined correspondingly. Bank branches, access to banking, and microfinance services have expanded substantially. Nonbanking financial institutions have also grown but remain small; banks s till account for over 90 percent of financial institutions' assets. Equity market listings and capitalization have grown substantially; market capitalization was equivalent to about 14 percent of GDP in December 2008. A government bond market is developing. Further sound financial development in the various parts of the financial sector...

This paper presents the latest update of the World Bank Bank Regulation and Supervision Survey, and explores two questions. First, were there significant differences in regulation and supervision between crisis and non-crisis countries? Second, what aspects of regulation and supervision changed significantly during the crisis period? The paper finds significant differences between crisis and non-crisis countries in several aspects of regulation and supervision. In particular, crisis countries (a) had less stringent definitions of capital and lower actual capital ratios, (b) faced fewer restrictions on non-bank activities, (c) were less strict in the regulatory treatment of bad loans and loan losses, and (d) had weaker incentives for the private sector to monitor banks' risks. Survey results also suggest that the overall regulatory response to the crisis has been slow, and there is room to improve regulation and supervision, as well as private incentives to monitor risk-taking. Specifically, comparing regulatory and supervisory practices before and after the global crisis...

This paper investigates how government interventions into banking systems such as blanket guarantees, liquidity support, recapitalizations, and nationalizations affect banking competition. This debate is important because the pricing of banking products has implications for borrower and depositor welfare. Exploiting data for 124 countries that witnessed different policy responses to 41 banking crises, and using difference-in-difference estimations, the paper presents the following key results: (i) Government interventions reduce Lerner indices and net interest margins. This effect is robust to a battery of falsification and placebo tests, and the competitive response also cannot be explained by alternative forces. The competition-increasing effect on Lerner indices and net interest margins is also confirmed once the non-random assignment of interventions is accounted for using instrumental variable techniques that exploit exogenous variation in the electoral cycle and in the design of the regulatory architecture across countries. (ii) Consistent with theoretical predictions...

Myanmar is an agricultural country. It is estimated that the agriculture sector represents between 35 to 40 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and that up to 70 percent of the labor force (of 32.5 million) is directly or indirectly engaged in agricultural activities or depend on agriculture for their income. Given agriculture's important contribution to the economy, the modernization of the agriculture sector is a top priority in the economic and social development agenda of the Government of Myanmar. Among the government institutions supporting the agriculture sector, the Myanmar Agriculture Development Bank (MADB) plays an important role. MADB was established in June 1953 by the Government of Myanmar to support the development of agriculture, livestock, and rural enterprises in Myanmar. MADB is currently the largest financial institution serving the rural areas and financing agriculture activities. At the end of 2012, MADB served 1.87 million customers, mostly farmers, and had a network of 206 branches (which accounted for 23 percent of all banks' branches in Myanmar). Since its creation...