Publications

April 2002 (Revised March 2006)
Background Note

Economics of Retail Banking Note

By: Frances X. Frei and Dennis Campbell

Explains the financial operations of retail banking, highlighting profitability challenges facing the industry. For U.S. banks, it is quite common for more than half of the customer base to be unprofitable and to have relatively few customers make up the vast majority... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Economics; Cost; Banks and Banking; Profit; Revenue; Service Operations; Banking Industry; United States

September 1995 (Revised March 1996)
Case

HCL America

Shows students how a custom software programming company takes advantage of differences between the United States and India in the cost of skilled labor (software engineers) to give its customers rare expertise and lower prices. Asks students to examine the company... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Service Delivery; Software; Information Technology Industry; United States; India

02 May 2017
Working Paper Summaries

The Cross Section of Bank Value

Keywords: by Mark Egan, Stefan Lewellen, and Adi Sunderam; Banking

October 2015
Case

A Challenger's Strategy: Pinar Abay at ING Bank Turkey

By: Paul Healy, Gautam Mukunda and Esel Çekin

In 2013, Pinar Abay was appointed as the CEO of ING Bank Turkey. At 34, she was the youngest bank CEO in Turkey's history. Her appointment raised eyebrows because of her youth and because her career at McKinsey had given her no day-to-day bank management experience.... View Details

2014
Working Paper

Putting Skin in the Game: Managerial Ownership and Bank Risk-Taking

By: Jan Bouwens and Arnt Verriest

This paper examines the relation between managerial ownership and bank risk exposure for a large sample of international financial institutions. We seek empirical evidence suggested by theories concerning conflicts between managers and owners over risk-taking. We argue... View Details

Keywords: Managerial Equity Ownership; Financial Risk; Banks; Motivation and Incentives; Risk Management; Employee Ownership; Corporate Governance; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry

20 May 2015
Working Paper Summaries

Career Concerns of Banking Analysts

Keywords: by Joanne Horton, George Serafeim & Shan Wu; Banking; Banking

May 2016
Case

Revitalizing State Bank of India

By: Srikant M. Datar, N. M. Bhatta, Rishikesha T. Krishnan and Rachna Tahilyani

State Bank of India is India’s oldest and largest bank with the government of India as its majority shareholder. Arundhati Bhattacharya, a 35-year veteran of the bank, is appointed as its chairman in October 2013. Her appointment coincides with Moody’s downgrading the... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Communication Strategy; Leadership Style; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change And Adaptation; Performance Evaluation; Culture; Corporate Social Responsibility And Impact; Human Resources; Employees; Compensation And Benefits; Recruiting; Capital Markets; Performance Expectations; Financial Services Industry; Asia; India

February 1996 (Revised February 1997)
Case

America Online, Inc.

By: Amy P. Hutton and Krishna G. Palepu

America Online's (AOL) stock price has soared nearly 2,000% since its IPO. However, there is considerable disagreement among analysts regarding the future prospects of AOL. Although many analysts are bullish on the stock, short sellers have sold around 7 million... View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Analysis; Stocks; Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Statements; Business Strategy; Web Services Industry

September 2019 (Revised February 2020)
Teaching Note

Commonwealth Bank of Australia: Unbanklike Experimentation

By: Ryan W. Buell and Leslie K. John

Email mking@hbs.edu for a courtesy copy.

This Teaching Note explains the theory of the case and teaching plan for the case: Commonwealth Bank of Australia: Unbanklike Experimentation (619-018). In August 2017,... View Details

Keywords: Transparency; Experimentation; Banks and Banking; Credit Cards; Customer Focus and Relationships; Competitive Strategy; Banking Industry; Australia

June 1987 (Revised August 1988)
Case

American Bank

By: Robert S. Kaplan

American Bank is developing a new system to compute product costs. The deregulated, more competitive environment for commercial banks has created both problems and opportunities for banking operations. In order to price existing products and assess the desirability of... View Details

Keywords: System; Consolidation; Commercial Banking; SWOT Analysis; Fair Value Accounting; Cost Management; Price; Banking Industry; North and Central America; United States

April 2016 (Revised January 2017)
Case

Bank of Taiwan

By: Dennis Campbell and Dawn H. Lau

Keywords: Taiwan

Winter 2009
Article

Is Private Equity Out of Control in Latin America?: The Impact of Structures on Private Equity Transactions in Latin America 1988-2007

By: Roberto Charvel

This article explores the private equity industries in 25 Latin American countries from 1988 to 2007. View Details

Keywords: Latin America; Entrepreneurial Finance; Business Startups; Business Cycles; Development Economics; Economic Systems; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Assets; Capital Markets; Venture Capital; Capital Structure; Private Equity; Latin America; North and Central America

2020
Working Paper

How Should U.S. Bank Regulators Respond to the COVID-19 Crisis?

By: Michael Blank, Samuel G. Hanson, Jeremy C. Stein and Adi Sunderam

Drawing on lessons from the 2007–2009 Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and a simple conceptual framework, we examine the response of U.S. bank regulators to the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue that the current regulatory strategy of “watchful waiting”—the same strategy that... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Bank Regulation; Recapitalization; Health Pandemics; Banks and Banking; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Strategy; Risk Management; United States

29 Sep 2008
News

Hank Paulson: CEO of America

March 2015
Article

Vulnerable Banks

By: Robin Greenwood, Augustin Landier and David Thesmar

We present a model in which fire sales propagate shocks across bank balance sheets. When a bank experiences a negative shock to its equity, a natural way to return to target leverage is to sell assets. If potential buyers are limited, then asset sales depress prices,... View Details

Keywords: Financial Liquidity; Financial Crisis; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; Europe

August 2003 (Revised June 2005)
Case

Royal Bank of Scotland, The: Masters of Integration

By: Nitin Nohria and James Weber

Describes the acquisition of Nat West by Royal Bank of Scotland. Describes the strategic rationale for the acquisition and the process by which the integration of the two banks was accomplished. The acquisition is remarkable for how successful it was, given the typical... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Integration; Banks and Banking; Success; Banking Industry; Scotland

Article

The Cross Section of Bank Value

By: Mark Egan, Stefan Lewellen and Adi Sunderam

We study the determinants of value creation in U.S. commercial banks. We develop novel measures of individual banks' productivities at collecting deposits and making loans. We relate these measures to bank market values and find that deposit productivity is responsible... View Details

Keywords: Productivity; Banks and Banking; Valuation; Performance Productivity; Value Creation; United States

January 1983 (Revised February 1988)
Case

Hospital Corp. of America (B)

By: W. Carl Kester

Focuses on HCAs financing options for reaching its target capital structure. The options include new equity conversion of convertible debentures, a debt-for-equity swap, the sale of assets, and fixed-rate debt. Students must address the problem of market timing and... View Details

Keywords: Assets; Capital Structure; Cash Flow; Equity; Debt Securities; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Health Industry; United States

Article

What Do State-Owned Development Banks Do? Evidence from BNDES, 2002–09

By: Sergio G. Lazzarini, Aldo Musacchio, Rodrigo Bandeira-de-Mello and Rosilene Marcon

Defendants of state-owned development banks emphasize their role in reducing capital constraints and fostering productive investment; detractors point out that they may benefit politically connected capitalists or bail out inefficient firms. We study the effect of... View Details

Keywords: State Capitalism; Development Banks; Industrial Policy; Banking Industry; Brazil