Performance of Financial Institutions
Efficiency, Innovation, Regulation

This volume addresses the importance of the efficient operation of financial intermediaries with respect to the efficient functioning of the present and future financial systems.

Patrick T. Harker (Edited by), Stavros A. Zenios (Edited by)

9780521777674, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 18 May 2000

512 pages, 16 b/w illus. 70 tables
23 x 15.4 x 2.9 cm, 0.705 kg

'An excellent collection of contributions to the study of the performance of financial institutions. In a period in which we observe so many changes in both financial markets and institutions, performance analysis becomes more important than ever. This book helps to find a number of important clues.' Jaap Spronk, Erasmus University, Rotterdam

The efficient operation of financial intermediaries - banks, insurance and pension fund firms, government agencies - is instrumental for the efficient functioning of the financial system and the fuelling of the economies of the twenty-first century. But what drives the performance of these institutions in today's global environment? The interdisciplinary and international perspective of this volume offers a deep understanding of the drivers of performance in financial institutions. World-renowned scholars from economics, finance, operations management and marketing, and leading industry professionals, bring their expertise to bear. Among their concerns are: the definition and measurement of the efficiency of such institutions; benchmarks of efficiency; identification of performance drivers and measurement of their effects; the impact of financial innovation and information technologies on performance; the effects of process design, human resource management policies and regulations on efficiency; and interrelationships between risk management and operational efficiency.

1. What drives the performance of financial institutions? Patrick T. Harker and Stavros A. Zenios
2. Efficiency of financial institutions: international survey and directions for future research Allen Berger and David Humphrey
3. Inside the black box: what explains differences in the efficiency of financial institutions Allen Berger and Loretta Mester
Part I. Drivers of Performance: Indentification, Specification, and Measurement: 4. Diversification, organization, and efficiency: evidence from bank holding companies Peter Klein and Marc Saidenberg
5. Product focus versus diversification: estimates of x-efficiency for the US life insurance industry Joseph Meador, Harley Ryan and Caroline Schellhorn
6. Outperformance: does managerial specialization pay? Piet Eicholtz, Hans Op't Veld and Mark Schweitzer
7. Bank relationships: a review Steven Ongena and David C. Smith
8. Inside the black box: what makes a bank efficient? Frances Frei, Patrick Harker and Larry Hunter
9. An optimization framework for the triad: capabilities, service quality and performance Andreas Athanassopoulos
10. Disentagling within- and between-country efficiency differences of bank branches Andreas Soteriou, Andreas Athanassopolulos and Stavros A. Zenios
Part II. Further Drivers of Performance: Innovation, Regulation and Technology: 11. The challenges of new electronic technologies in banking: private strategies and public policies Paul Horvitz and Lawrence J. White
12. Technological change, financial innovation and financial regulation in the US: the challenge for public policy Lawrence J. White
Part IV. Performance and Risk Management: 14. Risks and returns in relationship and transaction banks: evidence from Bank's returns in Germany, Japan, and the UK and the US Kathryn Dewenter and Alan Hess
15. Acceptable risk: A study of global currency trading rooms in the US and Japan Srilata Zaheer.

Subject Areas: Finance & accounting [KF]