The economic literature pays a great deal of attention to the performance of
banks, expressed in terms of competition, concentration, efficiency, productivity
and profitability. This book provides an all-embracing framework for the
various existing theories in this area and illustrates these theories with practical
applications.
Evaluating a broad field of research, the book describes a profit maximizing
bank and demonstrates how several widely-used models can be fitted into this
framework. The authors also present an overview of the current major trends in
banking and relate them to the assumptions of each model, thereby shedding
light on the relevance, timeliness and shelf life of the various models. The results
include a set of recommendations for a future research agenda.
Offering a comprehensive analysis of bank performance, this book is useful
for all of those undertaking research, or interested, in areas such as banking,
competition, supervision, monetary policy and financial stability.
Jacob A. Bikker is Senior Researcher at the Strategy Department, Supervisory
Policy Division, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) and professor in Banking and
financial regulation at Utrecht University School of Economics, the Netherlands.
Jaap W.B. Bos is Assistant Professor of Finance and Financial Markets at Utrecht
University School of Economics, the Netherlands.