Business Sustainability Performance Evaluation for Taiwanese Banks—A Hybrid Multiple-Criteria Decision-Making Approach

The Taiwanese government has encouraged bank privatization and the establishment of financial holding companies to improve banking sustainability and consolidate banks, insurance companies, and securities firms. It is important for bank decision makers to set policies that lead to sustainable development. However, the literature remains unclear about the types of banks that achieve greater business sustainability. This paper aims to (1) identify the criteria that affect banks’ business sustainability and (2) determine the most sustainable types of banks. This study uses a hybrid multiple-criteria decision-making approach on eighteen financial criteria for twenty-five Taiwanese listed banks with data from 2012 to 2016. The results show that non-performing loan ratio is the most critical factor. In addition, financial holding companies outperformed non-financial holding companies. Financial holding companies with insurance companies as their largest subsidiaries performed best. Private banks exceeded state-owned banks in sustainability. The results lead to two implications. First, banks should value risk over profitability and diversify financial products. Second, the government should continue to privatize banks. These findings suggest that bank managers implement an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system with a master plan, framework, and guidelines to help them track bank performance indicators to ensure sustainability.