Publications

September 1990
Case

Signet Bank

1986
Book

Banking and Empire in Iran

By: Geoffrey Jones

This is the first of two volumes of a business history of a major British bank in the Middle East. Volume 1 traces the history of the bank from its foundation in 1889 as The Imperial Bank of Persia, through the years it was the state bank of Iran, and its development... View Details

Keywords: Banks and Banking; International Relations; Business History; Economic History; Political History; War; Iran; Russia; Great Britain

October 2001 (Revised October 2017)
Case

Pilgrim Bank (A): Customer Profitability

By: Frances X. Frei and Dennis Campbell

Provides a context in which students can explore managerial decision making that is critically informed by data analysis. The setting is a retail bank and the decision making relates to the bank's policy toward online banking. The management team is evaluating whether... View Details

Keywords: Banks and Banking; Customers; Profit; Banking Industry

February 1983
Case

Continental Bank

08 May 2017
Working Paper Summaries

Monetary Policy and Global Banking

Keywords: by Falk Bräuning and Victoria Ivashina; Banking

2012
Case

Jyske Bank B: The Bank in 2012

By: Roger Hallowell

July 2010
Technical Note

Note on the Banking Industry

By: Clayton S. Rose and Scott Waggoner

This note provides an overview of the structure and function of the banking industry, with a primary focus on the U.S. It was designed to support the HBS MBA course "Managing the Financial Firm." View Details

Keywords: Banks and Banking; Business or Company Management; Industry Structures; Banking Industry; United States

March 2010 (Revised January 2012)
Case

Bank of America-Merrill Lynch

By: Guhan Subramanian and Nithyasri Sharma

In September 2008, as Lehman Brothers struggled to survive, John Thain, CEO of Merrill Lynch, realized that his bank was also on the brink of failure. Throughout the weekend of September 13–14, 2008, Thain successfully negotiated a deal with Ken Lewis, CEO of Bank of... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Financial Crisis; Financing and Loans; Negotiation Deal; Business and Government Relations; Banking Industry; United States

Forthcoming
Article

Arbitrage Capital of Global Banks

By: Alyssa Anderson, Wenxin Du and Bernd Schlusche

We show that the role of unsecured, short-term wholesale funding for global banks has changed significantly in the post-financial-crisis regulatory environment. Global banks mainly use such funding to finance liquid, near risk-free arbitrage positions—in particular,... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Banks and Banking; Interest Rates; Financing and Loans

March 1990 (Revised May 1990)
Supplement

Chase Manhattan Bank (H): International Individual Bank

By: Benson P. Shapiro

Keywords: Banking Industry

September 1991
Supplement

First National Bank Corp. (B)

Describes recent proposals to change bank credit loss accounting rules. View Details

Keywords: Accounting

August 2002 (Revised June 2006)
Case

Great Dakota Bank: Online Banking

By: Frances X. Frei, Youngme E. Moon and Hanna Rodriguez-Farrar

In 2002, Great Dakota Bank's retail division is considering how heavily it should be promoting the company's online banking service. A recent promotional campaign appears to have significantly increased enrollments in online banking, but it is unclear whether the bank... View Details

Keywords: Banks and Banking; Internet and the Web; Customer Relationship Management; Consumer Behavior; Demand and Consumers; Technological Innovation; Customer Value and Value Chain; Customer Satisfaction; Management; Service Operations; Banking Industry

December 2004
Case

Money and Banking in America

By: Nancy F. Koehn and Stephen A. Mihm

Provides a concise overview of the critical role that money and the nation's banking system have played in the development of the U.S. economy. Tells the story of money and banking in the United States, from the earliest settlements in the colonial era through the 20th... View Details

Keywords: History; Money; Banks and Banking; United States

September 1996 (Revised November 1996)
Case

World Bank (A): Under Siege

By: George C. Lodge and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Describes the issues that James Wolfensohn faces when he takes over the World Bank as president in June 1995. Presents several lines of criticism of the bank's strategy, structure, and relevance. View Details

Keywords: Financial Institutions; International Finance; Organizational Structure; Leading Change; Situation or Environment; Decision Choices and Conditions; Strategy; Management Teams; Value; Banking Industry

29 Jan 2018
Working Paper Summaries

Do Banks Have an Edge?

Keywords: by Juliane Begenau and Erik Stafford; Banking

January 1997 (Revised October 1997)
Case

Guaranty Trust Bank Plc. Nigeria

A new bank rose from nothing to sixth place in Nigeria by turning its back on traditional practices (corruption, bribery, political favoritism) and adopting policies of high integrity and high employee involvement. They said it couldn't be done, but it was. The... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Success; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; Nigeria

September 2001 (Revised July 2002)
Case

Fraud Prevention at Omni Bank

By: Frances X. Frei and Hanna Rodriguez-Farrar

Omni Bank is undergoing a merger and has two important decisions ahead. First, should it enforce the use of its model-driven approach to interacting with customers at the recently acquired Friends Savings and Loan branches. Friends has a culture of personal touch with... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Model; Crime and Corruption; Customer Relationship Management; Decisions; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry