Efficiency Change of Banking Sectors and Banks in the Financial Conglomerates in Visegrad Group Countries

The objective of this paper is to estimate the efficiency change in the banking sectors of the group of Visegrad countries during the 2009 - 2013 period and to determine whether banks that belong to a financial conglomerate are more or less efficient than other banks in the sector. We used Data Envelopment Analysis and the Malmquist index to analyse the banking efficiency. The positive efficiency change during the 2009 - 2013 period was primarily due to innovation, superior management and technological growth. There were differences in banks in the financial conglomerates across Visegrad group countries. Several banks from the financial conglomerate were less efficient than other banks in the banking industry.