Measuring of Concentration and Competition: Serbian Banking Sector

Abstract

The author in this paper considers the question of the use of indices of concentration and competition in the banking market. As example he chose the Serbian banking sector during the second half of the 2010s. The analyses are based on the data of bank financial statements for relevant years, as well as the results of other researchers. Тhe traditional concentration indicators (CRn and HH indices) are used, as well as the Gini coefficients and Rosenbluth and Tideman-Hall index and coefficient of entropy. At the end author calculated Linda Indices, the rarely used indicators not only in Serbia, and new Svetunkov’s approach and coefficients of the model based on Gauss exponential curve. The concentration degree in all cases is calculated based on five variables: total assets, deposits, capital, bank operating income and loans. Although these variables are highly correlated, the results show relatively important differences of its use. In the case of such variable as capital, the Linda indices suggested the existence of an oligopoly structure. In conclusion, it was demonstrated that in the case of the relatively large number of banks in Serbia, the existing concentration degree is generally moderately low, which provides suitable conditions for the development of healthy competition among them. At the end, there is necessary to emphasize different capability of information respective indicators and its different discriminative power. In future research this is fact that is it undoubtedly necessary particularly not to ignore.

Keywords: concentration, competition, banking sector, SCP paradigm, Serbia, Linda indices, Gini coefficient, Herfindahl-Hirschman index, Rosenbluth index, Tideman-Hall index, entropy index, concentration ratio, oligopoly

JEL Classification: C38, G21, L10