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16 J. Banking Reg. 1 (2015)

handle is hein.journals/jlbkrg16 and id is 1 raw text is: Original Article
An empirical analysis of China's Big four
state-owned banks' performance: A data
envelopment analysis
Jiyun Xu (Janet)
is a PhD student in Finance at Lincoln University, New Zealand. She received her Master of Commerce and
Management in finance from Lincoln University, Christchurch, New Zealand, and her BCom in economics from
University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. She has completed her Master's degree with first class
Honors. Her research interests are banking and the stock markets.
Christopher Gan
is a professor of accounting and finance in the Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance at Lincoln
University, Christchurch, New Zealand. He teaches financial markets, institutions and policy, international
finance, postgraduate commercial banking and applied research methods. He is the director of Lincoln
University Center for International Development. His research interests are Asian economy, stock markets,
banking and microfinance. He is the Chief Editor of the Review of Applied Economics.
Baiding Hu
is a senior lecturer in the Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance at Lincoln University, New
Zealand. His research interests are productivity and efficiency estimation, Chinese economy and energy
economics.
Correspondence: Christopher Gan, Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Lincoln University,
PO Box 84, Christchurch, 7647, New Zealand
ABSTRACT This article examines the efficiency performance and productivity change of China's Big four
state-owned commercial banks and to test how the banks react to the bank reform period from 1990 to 2008.
The empirical analysis utilizes the data envelopment analysis to estimate the technical and scale efficiency of
the Big four state-owned banks on a panel basis. The result shows that the technical efficiency, scale efficiency
and productivity change of the Big four state-owned banks reacted positively over the reform period from 1990
to 2008. The result also shows that too much protection, support and intervention from the Chinese govern-
ment results in a lack of motivation to innovate and develop new financial products and services. The article
concludes that the Chinese government should let the banks make the lending decision base on the commer-
cial principles.
Journal of Banking Regulation (2015) 16, 1-21. doi:10.1057/jbr.2013.19; published online 25 September 2013
Keywords: efficiency; performance; data envelopment analysis; banks; competition; reforms
INTRODUCTION                                providing  services to  foreign  enterprises,
Performance of commercial banks has increased businesses and individuals. There is also a shift
the attention of researchers over the past  from  the traditional bank lending activities
several years, because banks are becoming more toward investment banking activities. Competi-
international, disintermediation, concentrated  tion in the financial markets encourages
and contestable in the financial market in  consolidation of banks and other financial

@ 2015 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1745-6452 Journal of Banking Regulation Vol. 16, 1, 1-21
www.palgrave-journals.com/jbr/

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