The aim of the paper is to estimate the cost efficiency of the Czech and Slovak commercial banks within the period 2010-2014. For empirical analysis the Data Envelopment Analysis input-oriented model with variable returns to scale is applied on the data of the commercial banks. The intermediation approach is adopted to define the inputs and outputs. The Czech commercial banks are more cost efficient than Slovak commercial banks. The development of average cost efficiency is similar in the Czech and Slovak banking industry. The most efficient Czech banks are Ceská sporitelna and Sberbank in the Czech banking sector, the most efficient Slovak bank is Privatbanka with 100% efficiency.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3846/bm.2016.14