Efficiency and Performance Evaluation of European Cooperative Banks

Cooperative banks play an important role in the European banking system. This paper presents an evaluation of the efficiency and performance of a European cooperative banks. For this purpose an integrated approach is employed using both data envelopment analysis as well as a multicriteria evaluation methodology. Through data envelopment analysis the efficiency of the banks is evaluated under both the profit and the intermediation approach, while controlling for the effect of different country characteristics. The multicriteria evaluation process enables the comparison of all banks in a common setting. The data set involves banks from Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Austria over the period 2005–2010.