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The paper employed a two-stage Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach to examine the sources of technical efficiency in the Nigerian banking sub-sector. Using a cross section of commercial and merchant banks, the study showed that the Nigerian banking industry was not efficient both in the pre-and-post-liberalization era. The study further revealed that market share was the strongest determinant of technical efficiency in the Nigerian banking Industry. Thus, appropriate macroeconomic policy, institutional development and structural reforms must accompany financial liberalization to create the stable environment required for it to succeed. Hence, the present bank consolidation and reforms by the Central Bank of Nigeria, which started with Soludo and continued with Sanusi, are considered necessary, especially in the areas of e banking and reorganizing the management of banks.

By employing non-parametric methods, namely Data Envelopment Analysis and Malmquist Index, this paper investigates efficiency of banks using a database of almost all banks in four countries in South-East Europe. The superior efficiency of foreignowned banks in intermediation is supported. It is argued that the improvement in efficiency of banks originated from the change in technology rather than scale and technical efficiency, and banks on average have not been able to catch-up with best-performers, thus widening the efficiency gap. The largest sources of inefficiency are found to be cost and scale inefficiencies and lending shortfalls. Because of its peculiarities, Kosovo banking sector is assessed relative to other economies. Findings suggest that despite some improvements, the banking system in Kosovo remained less efficient. A number of policy implications emanate from the findings, aiming at enhancing the intermediation efficiency of banks in the context of South-East European transition.