Elisabeth Beckmann
- 15 July 2026
- WORKING PAPER SERIES - No. 3256Details
- Abstract
- We study the evolution of bank branch networks in ten CESEE countries between 2013 and 2021. Using a manually compiled dataset of all branches and their geocoordinates, we document a decline exceeding 30%, with substantial heterogeneity across and within countries. We show that banking market consolidation is a key driver of closures, while profitability and local economic growth mitigate them. Branches in highly urban or very rural areas close more often. Competitive effects are nonlinear: moderate clustering lowers closure risk, but intense competition increases it. These patterns differ markedly across CESEE banking systems during the entire period we analyze.
- JEL Code
- D53 : Microeconomics→General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium→Financial Markets
G21 : Financial Economics→Financial Institutions and Services→Banks, Depository Institutions, Micro Finance Institutions, Mortgages
R12 : Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics→General Regional Economics→Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity
- 21 June 2023
- THE INTERNATIONAL ROLE OF THE EURO - BOXThe international role of the euro 2023Details
- Abstract
- Geopolitical conflicts can have a significant impact on the demand for euro cash outside the euro area, as illustrated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Chart A, panel a, compares the deviation of demand for euro banknotes from historical averages, both from non-euro area countries (blue line) and from countries within the euro area (dotted grey lines) between January 2021 and May 2022 – immediately after demand returned to near-average levels. In the months before the invasion, foreign demand for euro cash remained below its historical average. However, it rose far above its historical average just after the invasion (in March 2022), to an extent greater than in most euro area countries in that period. This suggests that precautionary motives were a determinant of demand for euro cash from non-euro area countries, mainly driven by high-value denominations (€100 and €200) which are mostly used for store-of-value purposes.
- JEL Code
- :
- Network
- Eurosystem Research Network on Cash (EURECA)
- 2 June 2021
- THE INTERNATIONAL ROLE OF THE EURO - BOXThe international role of the euro 2021Details
- Abstract
- The international role of the euro, June 2021