Analysis of Efficiency and Productivity of Commercial Banks in Turkey Pre- and during COVID-19 with an Integrated MCDM Approach

Abstract

Above all, this study is original in that it reveals the efficiency and productivity of banks exposed to the current pandemic situation. The aim of this study is to evaluate bank efficiency and productivity of commercial banks operating in Turkey pre- and during COVID-19 by using a novel integrated multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach. We divided the banks into three groups in order to evaluate the differences in terms of their efficiency and productivity: state banks, foreign banks and private domestic banks. This paper fills a gap in the literature by using a novel integrated MCDM approach including SWARA II as a subjective weighting method, MEREC as an objective weighting method, and MARCOS as a ranking method to evaluate bank efficiency and productivity. The results reveal that banks with foreign investors achieved higher productivity than other bank groups and the productivity of state banks decreased especially during the COVID-19 period. It should also be noted that state banks are restricted to certain political objectives.

Keywords

• multi-criteria analysis
• bank efficiency and productivity
• pre- and during COVID-19
• Turkish banking sector
• SWARA II
• MEREC