Publications

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July 2002
Case

First American Bank: Credit Default Swaps

This case examines a bank's ability to manage its credit exposure to a particular client using credit default swaps. View Details

Keywords: Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Risk and Uncertainty; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry

1995
Chapter

The Evolution of European Multinational Banking before 1914: Comparisons and Contrasts

By: G. Jones

Keywords: History; Multinational Firms and Management; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; Europe

spring 1983
Article

The Evolution of International Banking Competition and Its Implications for Regulation

By: D. B. Crane and Samuel L. Hayes III

Keywords: Banks and Banking; Competition; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

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20 Dec 2018
Cold Call Podcast

Using Fintech to Disrupt Eastern Bank from Within

Keywords: Banking; Financial Services

April 2007
Case

Microfinance in Bolivia: A Meeting with the President of the Republic

By: Michael Chu

Herbert Muller, chair of leading microfinance bank BancoSol, has met with Evo Morales one year after the populist leader's inauguration as president of Bolivia and proceeds to write an email to his fellow board directors. The bank is world famous for pioneering... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Race; Government Administration; Business and Government Relations; Microfinance; Poverty; Interest Rates; Banks and Banking; Financial Services Industry; Bolivia; South America

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14 Mar 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research, March 14

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=52379 March 2017 Politics & Society Land Institutions and Chinese Political Economy: Institutional Complementarities and Macroeconomic Management By:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

09 Feb 2010
First Look

First Look: Feb. 9

characteristic of emerging markets is the lack of institutions (credit-card systems, intellectual-property adjudication, data research firms) that facilitate efficient business operations. While such "institutional voids"... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

February 2025
Case

Hyperscaling Dreams: Ualá's Path from Startup to Fintech Champion

By: Juan Alcácer and Manuel Franck

Ualá, a fintech startup founded in Argentina in 2017 by Pierpaolo Barbieri, aimed to increase financial inclusion in Latin America through a digital platform linked to a prepaid card. After rapid success in Argentina, it expanded into Mexico and Colombia, acquiring... View Details

Keywords: Banks and Banking; Leadership; Venture Capital; Talent and Talent Management; Strategy; Credit; Business Startups; Profit; Growth and Development Strategy; Banking Industry; Argentina; Mexico; Colombia; Latin America

May 2020
Case

Trust Merchant Bank

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Pippa Tubman Armerding, Dilyana Karadzhova Botha and Salim Dewji

Trust Merchant Bank (TMB), a leading bank in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), needs to decide whether to enter the soon-to-be-liberalized insurance industry. Since its founding in 2004, TMB has played a pivotal role in reshaping the DRC banking landscape by... View Details

Keywords: Retail Banking; Financial Services; Financial Inclusion; Turnaround; Fintech; Banks and Banking; Financial Condition; Insurance; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Business Model; Family Business; Entrepreneurship; Information Technology; Monopoly; Banking Industry; Insurance Industry; Africa; Congo, Democratic Republic of the

November 2009 (Revised June 2012)
Supplement

Crisis and Reform in Japan's Banking System (B)

By: Thierry Porte, Rawi E. Abdelal, Laura Alfaro and Jonathan Schlefer

In 1997, amidst Japan's ongoing financial problems, Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto sought to restructure the financial sector to make it more transparent and globally competitive. He hoped that this effort, dubbed the "Big Bang" after the British financial... View Details

Keywords: History; Adaptation; Policy; Globalized Markets and Industries; Financial Crisis; Business and Government Relations; Macroeconomics; Restructuring; Global Strategy; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; Japan

October 2009
Article

Democratizing Entry: Banking Deregulations, Financing Constraints, and Entrepreneurship

By: William R. Kerr and Ramana Nanda

We examine entrepreneurship and creative destruction following US banking deregulations using Census Bureau data. US banking reforms brought about exceptional growth in both entrepreneurship and business closures. Most of the closures, however, were the new ventures... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Market Entry and Exit; Capital Markets; Banks and Banking; Growth and Development; Disruptive Innovation

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February 2003 (Revised March 2007)
Case

Internet Customer Acquisition Strategy at Bankinter

By: Francisco de Asis Martinez-Jerez, V.G. Narayanan and Lisa Brem

Bankinter, a relatively small Spanish bank, has a large presence as an Internet financial services provider. Leading the way to profitability through the Internet will give Bankinter a major competitive advantage over the larger, more established Spanish banks. Ann... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Internet and the Web; Activity Based Costing and Management; Customer Value and Value Chain; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; Spain

20 May 2013
Op-Ed

Making America an Industrial Powerhouse Again

industries. Research funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) sowed the seeds for the internet and advanced computer graphics. And massive investments by the National Institutes of Health in biomedical research,... View Details

Keywords: by Gary Pisano; Manufacturing

25 Aug 2015
First Look

First Look Tuesday

short- and long-term direct monetary effects of operating a winning athletics program for an academic institution of higher education. We construct a unique panel dataset from multiple sources and utilize the latest dynamic panel data... View Details

July 2021
Teaching Plan

Aligning Mission and Margin at Southern Bancorp

By: Rebecca Henderson, Brian Trelstad and Eren Kuzucu

Teaching Plan for HBS Case No. 321-099. In October 2020, after spending almost a decade to turnaround Southern Bancorp, an Arkansan bank founded with the mission to provide financial services to rural, underserved communities, CEO Darrin Williams is wondering how... View Details

Keywords: Racial Wealth Gap; Banks and Banking; Growth and Development; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Going Public; Investment Return; Social Issues; Wealth and Poverty; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States; Arkansas

05 Sep 2006
First Look

First Look: September 5, 2006

Organization 13, no. 5 (September 2006): 653-676 Abstract While early neo-institutional studies did not explicitly tackle the issue of agency, more recent studies about institutional entrepreneurship have brought it to the forefront.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2010
Chapter

Measuring and Managing Macrofinancial Risk and Financial Stability: A New Framework

By: Dale F. Gray, Robert C. Merton and Zvi Bodie

This paper proposes a new approach to improve the way central banks can analyze and manage the financial risks of a national economy. It is based on the modern theory and practice of contingent claims analysis (CCA), which is successfully used today at the level of... View Details

Keywords: Financial Statements; Economy; Financial Condition; Central Banking; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Management Practices and Processes; Risk Management; Measurement and Metrics; System Shocks

September 8, 2009
Article

The New Governance Paradigm

By: Nathaniel Foote and Michael Beer

Boards members of failed banks in 2008 or of the many companies like Enron who were caught up in scandals are by and large honorable, well intentioned, and competent people. So what went wrong and what can be done about it. This article argues that the problem lies in... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Competency and Skills; Banks and Banking; Failure; Goals and Objectives; Leadership; Management Practices and Processes; Ethics; Performance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Crime and Corruption