The Financial and Operational Performances of Privatized Banks: The Philippine Experience

It is widely believed that a great deal of the privatization efforts of governments started in the United Kingdom during the Thatcher Administration. Records show that the first effort to privatize government enterprises started in the Federal Republic of Germany during the time of Prime Minister Adenaur. One of the most remarkable aspects of the privatization efforts of governments is how similar their objectives are to that of Thatcher's. Raising revenue is the primary goal. Apart from this, governments likewise consider the more important objective of improving the financial and operating performance of privatized firm by exposing it to market forces. Thus privatization is also expected to increase the firm's profitability; to increase its operating efficiency; to allow the firm to increase its investment spending; to increase its output; and to maintain employment levels in order to accomplish the just cited objectives, although governments expect employment levels to decline. The financial and operational performance of commercial banks that were privatized in the Philippines was studied. Four banks before privatization and only three banks after privatization, due to the merger of two banks, were considered. The event study flow of analysis was utilized, i.e., the financial and operational performance of the banks three years before privatization was compared with their performance three years after privatization. Major financial measures of profitability, operating efficiency, capital investment spending, output changes, employment changes, leverage charges and dividend payout were considered. Wilcoxon rank sum test and t-test for differences in means were utilized. When the major financial ratios were considered, the Wilcoxon rank sum test results showed that there was significant difference in the median performance before and after privatization in real sales. We applied the t-test for differences in average performance before and after privatization of the bank. Results showed significant differences in mean return on sales, return on assets, real sales and total employment. At this point, Philippine banks that were privatized can already claim substantial improvements in their operational and financial performance.