Publications

June 2013
Teaching Plan

Citigroup-Wachovia-Wells Fargo

By: Guhan Subramanian and Charlotte Krontiris

This case follows the events of a crucial week in the 2008 financial crisis, when the federal government orchestrated the sale of Wachovia Bank first to Citigroup and then, in a surprise move, to Wells Fargo. We examine the extraordinary relations between government... View Details

Keywords: Citigroup; Wachovia; Wells Fargo; FDIC; Acquisition; Financial Crisis; Banks and Banking; Business and Government Relations; Banking Industry; United States

March 2017 (Revised March 2019)
Case

Ant Financial (A)

By: Feng Zhu, Ying Zhang, Krishna G. Palepu, Anthony K. Woo and Nancy Hua Dai

Headquartered in Hangzhou (China), Ant Financial has grown into a fintech “Unicorn.” The fintech empire that the company established spanned verticals such as mobile and online payment (Alipay), money market fund (Yu’e Bao), wealth management (Ant Fortune),... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Global Strategy; Finance; Opportunities; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry

September 2020 (Revised December 2021)
Case

Building India's 2.0: PayNearby

By: Lauren Cohen and Spencer C. N. Hagist

Headquartered in Mumbai, India, FinTech startup Nearby Technologies has seen its flagship brand, PayNearby, rapidly flourish across most of its target market within just four years. The unprecedented success of its payment app, which allows users to access banking... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Developing Markets; Payments; Financial Inclusion; Finance; Entrepreneurship; Emerging Markets; Competitive Strategy; Banking Industry; India

January 2000 (Revised September 2000)
Case

Casablanca Finance Group

Examines the founding and development of an investment bank in Morocco. Two Moroccan expatriates return from Paris and enter the brokerage business. Over the next six years they build the leading financial services firm in the country. Concludes with a series of... View Details

Keywords: Investment Banking; Business Startups; Financial Services Industry

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April 2019 (Revised February 2020)
Case

Ripple: The Business of Crypto

By: David B. Yoffie and George Gonzalez

The case explores Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse’s mission to disrupt the global payments industry by leveraging the cryptocurrency XRP. Students will learn about Bitcoin and the blockchain industry, as well as Ripple’s unique crypto business model. The case provides an... View Details

Keywords: Payment Systems; Cryptocurrency; Bitcoin; Blockchain; Fintech; Business Startups; Business Model; Disruption; Strategy; Banking Industry; Banking Industry

2021
Working Paper

CRM and AI in Time of Crisis

By: Michelle Y. Lu and Navid Mojir

A crisis can affect the incentives of various players within a firm’s multi-layered sales and marketing organization (e.g., headquarters and branches of a bank). Such shifts can result in sales decisions against the firm’s best interests. Motivated by the backlash to... View Details

Keywords: CRM; Artificial Intelligence; AI; B2B Marketing; Decision Authority; Crisis Marketing; Intra-organizational Conflict; COVID-19 Pandemic; Customer Relationship Management; Technological Innovation; Decision Making; Strategy; Health Pandemics; Crisis Management; AI and Machine Learning

SSRN

Read Now

Career Coach

Alyssa Wilson

happy to help with understanding the industry and recruiting calendar, identifying HBS resources that could be useful, editing resumes and cover letters as well as reviewing stock screens & pitches. Employment Experience: Barclays (5... View Details

April 2011 (Revised March 2013)
Supplement

BANEX and the No Pago Movement (B)

By: Shawn Cole and Baily Blair Kempner

This case examines Grassroots Capital's decision of whether or not to continue investing in a Bolivian microfinance bank that is suffering financial distress. View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Microfinance; Investment; Government and Politics; Crisis Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Financial Services Industry; Bolivia

July 2009
Supplement

Spreadsheet Supplement to Blue Ocean or Stormy Waters? Buying Nix Check Cashing (CW)

By: Peter Tufano

These spreadsheets will allow students to analyze financials for Kinecta Federal Credit Union and Nix Check Cashing. They also provide insight into the banking and AFS markets in which both organizations operate. View Details

Keywords: Financial Statements; Financial Institutions; Banking Industry; Banking Industry

23 Feb 2011
First Look

First Look: Feb. 23

even when we control for factors prominent in the last decade's cross-country studies of financial development. The findings indicate that inequality-perpetuating conditions that result in political instability are fundamental roadblocks for international organizations... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 1996 (Revised July 1996)
Case

Rabobank Nederland

By: Kenneth A. Merchant and Robert S. Kaplan

Describes the account manager's role and the history of one credit application. The purpose is to evaluate various methods the bank uses to influence account managers' behaviors. Also describes some alternatives being considered to improve the information systems used... View Details

Keywords: Financial Management; Managerial Roles; Accounting; Information Management; Banks and Banking; Power and Influence; Banking Industry; Netherlands

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November 2023 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Paytm: A Payments Journey in India

By: Álvaro Rodríguez Arregui, Amram Migdal and Kanika Jain

Paytm was an Indian financial technology company. Since its launch in 2010, it had built a dominant payments system in India, comprising mobile wallets, offline payments via QR codes, and a payments bank that offered no-frills banking. However, in 2016, the Indian... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Situation or Environment; Business Ventures; Business Model; Banks and Banking; Business Strategy; Competition; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; Asia; South Asia; India

January 2008 (Revised March 2008)
Supplement

Mayhem on Madison (B)

By: A. Eugene Kohn and David Lane

Explains the approvals and construction process for a building to be constructed against neighborhood opposition above an operating bank branch in New York City. View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Development Economics; Business and Community Relations; Conflict and Resolution; Urban Development; Real Estate Industry; New York (city, NY)

2009
Other Unpublished Work

The Pecora Hearings

By: David Moss, Cole Bolton and Eugene Kintgen

In 1932, in the depths of the Great Depression, the Senate Banking Committee began a much-publicized investigation of the nation's financial sector. The hearings, which came to be known as the Pecora hearings after the Banking Committee's lead counsel Ferdinand... View Details

Keywords: Financial History; Financial Crisis; Financial Markets; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Government Legislation; Laws and Statutes; Business and Government Relations; Financial Services Industry

April 2022
Case

Mastercard: Creating a World Beyond Cash

By: Sunil Gupta, Linda A. Hill, Julia Kelley and Emily Tedards

In late 2021, Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach and Chairman and former CEO Ajaypal “Ajay” Banga considered how Mastercard could best position itself for continued success in the years to come. Since Mastercard’s initial public offering in 2006, the company had grown and... View Details

Person Page

Positions

dollarDEX (1998-2007)

Retired chief executive, non-executive chairman

One of world's top 30 in online finance (Institutional Investor, March 2003). Wealth management firm in Asia, and has... View Details

Spring 2012
Article

The Roadmap for Private Equity, Venture Capital and Hedge Funds in Mexico: Alternative Assets as an Accelerator of Credit to Firms in Emerging Markets

By: Roberto Charvel

This article shows how alternative assets could be a good way for banks to start providing more loans to firms in emerging markets and finance growth, while giving local institutional investors access to new asset types. View Details

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February 1995 (Revised September 1995)
Case

The Bourland Companies

By: William J. Poorvu and John H. Vogel Jr.

Michael Bourland, the president of the Bourland Companies, needs to refinance two properties, an office building in southern New Hampshire and a retail property in Massachusetts. He is considering three alternatives: a renewal of a bank mini-perm, a 15-year mortgage... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Property; Mortgages; Family Business; Financial Management; Family Ownership; Real Estate Industry; Massachusetts; North and Central America

October 2019
Case

Regtech at HSBC

By: Aiyesha Dey, Jonas Heese and James Weber

Mark Cooke, Global Head of Operational Risk, needed to decide between a traditional regulatory control system and a new regtech system to manage non-financial risks. Non-financial risks failures such as money laundering and tax evasion had cost HSBC billions of... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Banks and Banking; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Banking Industry; Banking Industry; United Kingdom; United States