Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/258264 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Citation: 
[Journal:] Risks [ISSN:] 2227-9091 [Volume:] 9 [Issue:] 10 [Article No.:] 180 [Publisher:] MDPI [Place:] Basel [Year:] 2021 [Pages:] 1-22
Publisher: 
MDPI, Basel
Abstract: 
The purpose of this study was to examine banks' strategic adjustments to the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. It examines how deep and pressing the necessary transformations are, based on an analysis of the banking sectors of Central, Eastern, and Northern European countries (CENE): the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The main research question posed asks how the pandemic and the subsequent economic crisis have changed banks' sources of profits and risks, forcing banks to speed up structural transformations. In particular, the study identified and verified the following hypotheses: that the initial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on banks in the analyzed region was heterogeneous and that the pandemic has intensified the challenges of digitalization and forced banks to speed up the digital transformations of their business models. The methodology employed was the dynamic panel data model-generalized method of moment (GMM-SYS version), using an adjusted dataset from the BankFocus database for unconsolidated bank data for the 2016-2020 period. The econometric analysis was supplemented with a CENE bank survey, researching bank attitudes and the stage of digital transformation. The results of the survey revealed that the majority of the surveyed banks consider themselves digitalization leaders, with a clearly articulated and implemented digitalization strategy. The main finding of the study was that the digital focus may help large banks in CENE to address and offset problems revealed by the panel data model: that traditional sources of incomes, based on intermediation and interest-related incomes, no longer contribute positively to profitability but also to stability.
Subjects: 
bank digital attitudes
bank profitability
bank stability
COVID-19's impact on banks
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Article
Appears in Collections:

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.