We investigate the impact of earning asset diversification on Chinese bank efficiency from 2006 to 2011. We do this by adapting the current two-stage data envelopment analysis approach to a panel data setting so that we can account for technology change over time. Our Monte Carlo experiments illustrate the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed new algorithm over the conventional approach. When applied to Chinese banking data, the regression results reveal that increasing the asset share of other earning assets (including securities and derivatives) is positively associated with bank efficiency. Decreasing the share of nonearning assets in total assets or increasing total equity has a similar impact. Our results also suggest that financial reforms currently being undertaken in China, including removing the regulatory requirement concerning the ratio of loans to deposits (a draft amendment to the existing commercial banking law) and interest rate liberalization (a proposed draft amendment), are likely to have a positive effect on bank efficiency in China.

No abstract

In emerging countries, bank mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are frequently motivated by the objective of promoting stability in the banking industry. However, the evidence that M&A can lead to better performing banks is tenuous at best. In this article, we investigate if this tenuous relationship could be due to the treatment of target and acquiring banks as the same type in empirical analysis, which overlooks the possibility that M&A may affect these banks differently. Using panel data on six emerging countries, our results confirm that the effect of M&A is generally weak except when our regressions are implemented separately for target and acquiring banks. For the latter, we find that target banks tend to be more efficient after an M&A but no efficiency improvements are found for acquiring banks. These results suggest that in emerging countries, bank M&A can lead to efficiency improvements for the combined entity, although target banks are mainly the ones to benefit from it. They also highlight the importance of distinguishing between target and acquiring banks so as to obtain sharper estimates of how M&A might affect bank performance.

No abstract