SCHOOL OF ACCOUNTING, FINANCE AND MANAGEMENT Essex Finance Centre INTEGRATION AND EFFICIENCY IN EU BANKING MARKETS

Evidence of financial integration and convergence are considered of importance in assessing the outcome of EU deregulation policies aimed at improving the efficiency and performance of banking sectors. This paper evaluates the recent dynamics of bank cost efficiency by means of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Borrowing from the growth literature, we apply dynamic panel data models (GMM) to the concepts of β-convergence and σ-convergence to assess the speed at which banking markets are integrating. We also employ a partial adjustment model to evaluate convergence towards best practice. Results seem to provide supporting evidence of convergence of efficiency levels towards an EU average. Nevertheless, the potential gains brought about by increased integration have been offset by a decrease in the overall efficiency levels.