A Comparative Study of Bank Efficiency in Central and Eastern Europe: The Role of Foreign Ownership

The processes of liberalisation, globalisation and integration have brought new dynamics into banking markets. In an increasingly competitive environment, banks have been forced to refocus their strategies and examine their performance, because their survival in the 21st century will depend on efficiency (Denizer & Tarimcilar, 2001). In recent years, therefore, bank efficiency has received wide attention, and researchers have developed an extensive array of sophisticated methods and tools to estimate efficiency.