Comparison of selected bank characteristics. Empirical evidence from Poland and Czechia

The objective of this paper is to compare selected characteristics of banks in two European countries – Poland and Czechia. Following characteristics have been chosen – return on assets, return on equity, bank size, capital adequacy, loan loss provision, management efficiency, liquidity, lending and income diversification. There are 40 banks analyzed covering the period 2013-2017. Significance of difference was verified based on the Mann-Whitney and Friedman tests. The analysis showed that Czech banking sector is characterized by higher profitability, management efficiency, loan loss provisions whereas Polish one has higher level of capital adequacy, liquidity and income diversification. Czech banks focus on revenue maximization and Polish ones – on risk reduction.