The Global Financial Crisis, Fiscal Stimulus Package and the Chinese Banking Sector - A Pre- and Post-Efficiency Analysis

Abstract

This study is the first to examine the impact of two recent key events on technical, cost and profit efficiencies of Chinese commercial banks-the 2007 Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and the subsequent Chinese Government's 2009 fiscal stimulus package. Stochastic frontier analysis together with univariate and multivariate tests are used on a sample of 143 banks, including the big five, joint stock, city, rural and foreign, over the 2006-2013 period. Overall, there is substantial scope for improvement-cost efficiency could improve by up to 50%; technical and profit efficiencies by up to 30%. The effect of the crisis and the stimulus package on various overall and segment efficiencies is, at best, inconsistent and inconclusive.