Our empirical analysis of the cross-country determinants of bank fees is made possible by the availability of a unique dataset on bank fee levels in five Central European countries: Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. The structure of our dataset enables us to cope with heterogeneity and cross- subsidization by employing a representative fee index instead of using variables associated with individual fees. The socio-geographic region formed by these countries has several important advantages for our purposes. First, these countries are characterized by significant differences in the maturity of their banking sectors
