Efficiency of Regional Banks in Europe, Japan and the USA. A Best-Practice Analysis

Managerial efficiency in local banking is highest in Japan, followed by Europe and the USA. Pertinence of the findings is further increased when they are compared across local bank markets. Most significantly, the management of banks with home markets in economically underdeveloped regions is, in technical terms, significantly more efficient than that of banks with economically high-developed home markets. The highest managerial efficiency levels are reached by local banks doing business in rural, poorly developed regions, the lowest managerial efficiency levels are scored by banks domiciled in the richest, most advanced OECD regions. Accordingly, banks rank in terms of managerial efficiency in reverse order to the economic level of their home region.