Publications

Read Now

June 2020
Case

Recovering Trust After Corporate Misconduct at Wells Fargo

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Jonah S. Goldberg

The case describes widespread misconduct at Wells Fargo Community Bank in the period leading up to 2017 and the company’s subsequent attempts to improve internal controls, company culture, and corporate governance. The case examines the potential causes of large scale... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Misconduct; Internal Controls; Banks and Banking; Crime and Corruption; Corporate Governance; Organizational Culture; Governance Compliance; Management Systems; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance Improvement; Governing and Advisory Boards

28 Aug 2020
Video

Cas Coovadia

Cas Coovadia, the long-running Managing Director of the Banking Association South Africa, argues that the government needs proactive policies to support the Black community because of the discrimination it experienced under apartheid. View Details

October 2019
Case

Kaspi.kz IPO

By: Victoria Ivashina and Esel Çekin

This case follows Kaspi.kz, a private equity (Baring Vostok) co-owned retail bank in Central Asia that evolved into a fintech, payments and e-commerce company. It provides insights into private equity financing, portfolio company management, and initial public offering... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Private Equity; Initial Public Offering; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Central Asia

October 2017 (Revised April 2019)
Case

Eastern Bank: Innovating Through Eastern Labs

By: Karen Mills, Dennis Campbell and Aaron Mukerjee

Eastern Bank is a 200-year-old New England mutual bank with a community focus. Eastern specializes in small business lending, having made strategic investments to become the top SBA lender in New England in the midst of the Great Recession, when other banks were... View Details

Keywords: Banks and Banking; Technological Innovation; Entrepreneurship; Management

25 Mar 2022
Video

Omobola Johnson

Omobola Johnson, the former Minister of Communication Technology in Nigeria, reflects on the success factors of her Arthur Anderson consulting assignment with First Bank of Nigeria, in which she consolidated two of their most profitable branches to operate more... View Details

May 2010 (Revised September 2013)
Case

Friend Bank: The Time for Hope

By: Clayton S. Rose and Aldo Sesia

In 2010, Friend Bank was entering the fifth year of Hope Harris Johnson's ambitious 20-year growth plan to transform her family's one branch community bank into an institution with a substantial presence in southeastern Alabama. Harris Johnson was pleased, so far, with... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Financial Crisis; Banks and Banking; Growth and Development Strategy; Risk Management; Family Ownership; Competitive Advantage; Banking Industry; Alabama

April 1998
Case

Responding to 21st Century Financial Crisis

By: Huw Pill

During the 1990s, financial crises appear to have been almost annual events. Examples abound: the collapse of S & Ls in the United States; currency mayhem in Europe; Mexican devaluation and banking crisis; Japanese banks teetering on the verge of default; currency and... View Details

Keywords: Global Range; Financial Crisis

Find at Harvard

15 Oct 2019
News

Artificial Intelligence: It's Getting Real

18 Oct 2011
First Look

First Look: October 18

behalf of families and (b) bank forbearance policies regarding overdrawn customers. We focus on five factors to explain the incidence of involuntary closures: personal traits, community traits, economic... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

14 May 2019
News

Data privacy, AI, regulation: Small-business lending is changing fast

January 2008 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Mayhem on Madison (A)

By: A. Eugene Kohn and David Lane

In his first project, an aspiring property developer negotiates the development rights above a one-story bank branch in Manhattan's tony Carnegie Hill. Community resistance erupted immediately, spearheaded by celebrity and socialite residents. Facing rejection of his... View Details

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

Find at Harvard

February 2024
Article

Fifty Shades of QE: Robust Evidence

By: Brian Fabo, Marina Jančoková, Elisabeth Kempf and Ľuboš Pástor

Fabo et al. (2021) show that papers written by central bank researchers find quantitative easing (QE) to be more effective than papers written by academics. Weale and Wieladek (2022) show that a subset of these results lose statistical significance when OLS regressions... View Details

Keywords: Quantitative Easing; Research; Mathematical Methods; Perception; Banks and Banking; Body of Literature

Register to Read

June 2018
Supplement

Valuing Snap After the IPO Quiet Period (C)

By: Marco Di Maggio, Benjamin C. Esty and Gregory Saldutte

Analyzes Snap’s value and analyst recommendations following the events described in the (B) case. View Details

19 May 2015
News

Small Business Lending: The World Has Changed

June 2018 (Revised October 2018)
Teaching Note

Valuing Snap After the IPO Quiet Period (A), (B), and (C)

By: Marco Di Maggio and Benjamin C. Esty

Teaching Note for HBS Nos. 218-095, 218-096, and 218-116. View Details

November 2010
Case

Bling Nation

By: William A. Sahlman and Liz Kind

Bling Nation, a Palo Alto, CA startup, was founded in 2007 as a mobile payment service provider that bypassed industry participants such as Visa and MasterCard. Bling Nation partnered with local community banks and merchants in small towns. The banks provided their... View Details

Keywords: Culture