Community bank structure an x-efficiency approach

Abstract

Community banks have historically been important sources of intermediary services. Changes in regulation and intermediation technologies have affected the efficiency with which these firms can perform these services. Relatively small community banks, those with assets of $1 billion or less, have experienced particular changes in their ability to generate loan products as efficiently as their larger counterparts. Using FFIEC data for all banks of $10 billion or less, we measure the x-efficiency of all community banks and compare the results of small and all other community banks since 2010. We test for the importance of internal and external determinants of efficiency. We observe that declines in product provision are related to specific determinants of declining x-efficiency in small community banks. The results indicate limited assets or customer growth rates experienced by small community banks, coupled with a declining population in community bank trade areas, do not support improvements in x-efficiency through expanded intermediation activity. Small asset community bank managers will need to strategically deploy products that allow the customer relationship to be enhanced and sustained, using customer affiliations that cannot be easily adopted by larger competitors.