A shift from being a traditional to a competitive bank means that new relationships need to be established between the head office and operational units. At present, changes at the head office level include primarily an increase in headcount and a take-over of the support function, while at the branch level they involve headcount reduction, moving away from staff specialisation in favour of a more universal approach, focusing on customers and the introduction of standard solutions and Internet branches.

In this context, a question should be asked as to whether the hierarchy of strategic objectives and the ratios used to assess performance arise from the changes; in particular, changes in the area of organisation, or are they typical relationships existing in the classic approach to banking.

In the article, an attempt has been made to show differences existing between the strategic objectives and the bank performance assessment ratios used at the head office and operational unit level in view of the new relationships being formed between the head office and the operational units.