European savings banks: facing up to the new environment

Savings banks are an important European banking sector. From their traditional retail banking roots of catering for the poorer social groups and providing a limited range of specialist services, many savings banks today have evolved into full‐service universal banks that are virtually indistinguishable from their commercial bank competitors. Examines the strategic environment, challenges and different adaptive organizational models pursued by European savings banks. From recent survey and case study evidence, finds that savings banks’ strategies across Europe differ significantly in many respects. A common strategic imperative, however, is that savings banks are having to respond to intensifying competition and the related need to improve efficiency at all levels. A practical empirical indicator of these trends and changes is the increasing strategic importance of marketing.