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Research Topics & Ideas: Finance

120+ Finance Research Topic Ideas To Fast-Track Your Project

If you’re just starting out exploring potential research topics for your finance-related dissertation, thesis or research project, you’ve come to the right place. In this post, we’ll help kickstart your research topic ideation process by providing a hearty list of finance-centric research topics and ideas.

PS – This is just the start…

We know it’s exciting to run through a list of research topics, but please keep in mind that this list is just a starting point . To develop a suitable education-related research topic, you’ll need to identify a clear and convincing research gap , and a viable plan of action to fill that gap.

If this sounds foreign to you, check out our free research topic webinar that explores how to find and refine a high-quality research topic, from scratch. Alternatively, if you’d like hands-on help, consider our 1-on-1 coaching service .

Overview: Finance Research Topics

• Corporate finance topics
• Investment banking topics
• Private equity & VC
• Asset management
• Hedge funds
• Financial planning & advisory
• Quantitative finance
• Treasury management
• Financial technology (FinTech)
• Commercial banking
• International finance

Corporate Finance

These research topic ideas explore a breadth of issues ranging from the examination of capital structure to the exploration of financial strategies in mergers and acquisitions.

• Evaluating the impact of capital structure on firm performance across different industries
• Assessing the effectiveness of financial management practices in emerging markets
• A comparative analysis of the cost of capital and financial structure in multinational corporations across different regulatory environments
• Examining how integrating sustainability and CSR initiatives affect a corporation’s financial performance and brand reputation
• Analysing how rigorous financial analysis informs strategic decisions and contributes to corporate growth
• Examining the relationship between corporate governance structures and financial performance
• A comparative analysis of financing strategies among mergers and acquisitions
• Evaluating the importance of financial transparency and its impact on investor relations and trust
• Investigating the role of financial flexibility in strategic investment decisions during economic downturns
• Investigating how different dividend policies affect shareholder value and the firm’s financial performance

Investment Banking

The list below presents a series of research topics exploring the multifaceted dimensions of investment banking, with a particular focus on its evolution following the 2008 financial crisis.

• Analysing the evolution and impact of regulatory frameworks in investment banking post-2008 financial crisis
• Investigating the challenges and opportunities associated with cross-border M&As facilitated by investment banks.
• Evaluating the role of investment banks in facilitating mergers and acquisitions in emerging markets
• Analysing the transformation brought about by digital technologies in the delivery of investment banking services and its effects on efficiency and client satisfaction.
• Evaluating the role of investment banks in promoting sustainable finance and the integration of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria in investment decisions.
• Assessing the impact of technology on the efficiency and effectiveness of investment banking services
• Examining the effectiveness of investment banks in pricing and marketing IPOs, and the subsequent performance of these IPOs in the stock market.
• A comparative analysis of different risk management strategies employed by investment banks
• Examining the relationship between investment banking fees and corporate performance
• A comparative analysis of competitive strategies employed by leading investment banks and their impact on market share and profitability

Private Equity & Venture Capital (VC)

These research topic ideas are centred on venture capital and private equity investments, with a focus on their impact on technological startups, emerging technologies, and broader economic ecosystems.

• Investigating the determinants of successful venture capital investments in tech startups
• Analysing the trends and outcomes of venture capital funding in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, or clean energy
• Assessing the performance and return on investment of different exit strategies employed by venture capital firms
• Assessing the impact of private equity investments on the financial performance of SMEs
• Analysing the role of venture capital in fostering innovation and entrepreneurship
• Evaluating the exit strategies of private equity firms: A comparative analysis
• Exploring the ethical considerations in private equity and venture capital financing
• Investigating how private equity ownership influences operational efficiency and overall business performance
• Evaluating the effectiveness of corporate governance structures in companies backed by private equity investments
• Examining how the regulatory environment in different regions affects the operations, investments and performance of private equity and venture capital firms

Asset Management

This list includes a range of research topic ideas focused on asset management, probing into the effectiveness of various strategies, the integration of technology, and the alignment with ethical principles among other key dimensions.

• Analysing the effectiveness of different asset allocation strategies in diverse economic environments
• Analysing the methodologies and effectiveness of performance attribution in asset management firms
• Assessing the impact of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria on fund performance
• Examining the role of robo-advisors in modern asset management
• Evaluating how advancements in technology are reshaping portfolio management strategies within asset management firms
• Evaluating the performance persistence of mutual funds and hedge funds
• Investigating the long-term performance of portfolios managed with ethical or socially responsible investing principles
• Investigating the behavioural biases in individual and institutional investment decisions
• Examining the asset allocation strategies employed by pension funds and their impact on long-term fund performance
• Assessing the operational efficiency of asset management firms and its correlation with fund performance

Hedge Funds

Here we explore research topics related to hedge fund operations and strategies, including their implications on corporate governance, financial market stability, and regulatory compliance among other critical facets.

• Assessing the impact of hedge fund activism on corporate governance and financial performance
• Analysing the effectiveness and implications of market-neutral strategies employed by hedge funds
• Investigating how different fee structures impact the performance and investor attraction to hedge funds
• Evaluating the contribution of hedge funds to financial market liquidity and the implications for market stability
• Analysing the risk-return profile of hedge fund strategies during financial crises
• Evaluating the influence of regulatory changes on hedge fund operations and performance
• Examining the level of transparency and disclosure practices in the hedge fund industry and its impact on investor trust and regulatory compliance
• Assessing the contribution of hedge funds to systemic risk in financial markets, and the effectiveness of regulatory measures in mitigating such risks
• Examining the role of hedge funds in financial market stability
• Investigating the determinants of hedge fund success: A comparative analysis

Financial Planning and Advisory

This list explores various research topic ideas related to financial planning, focusing on the effects of financial literacy, the adoption of digital tools, taxation policies, and the role of financial advisors.

• Evaluating the impact of financial literacy on individual financial planning effectiveness
• Analysing how different taxation policies influence financial planning strategies among individuals and businesses
• Evaluating the effectiveness and user adoption of digital tools in modern financial planning practices
• Investigating the adequacy of long-term financial planning strategies in ensuring retirement security
• Assessing the role of financial education in shaping financial planning behaviour among different demographic groups
• Examining the impact of psychological biases on financial planning and decision-making, and strategies to mitigate these biases
• Assessing the behavioural factors influencing financial planning decisions
• Examining the role of financial advisors in managing retirement savings
• A comparative analysis of traditional versus robo-advisory in financial planning
• Investigating the ethics of financial advisory practices

The following list delves into research topics within the insurance sector, touching on the technological transformations, regulatory shifts, and evolving consumer behaviours among other pivotal aspects.

• Analysing the impact of technology adoption on insurance pricing and risk management
• Analysing the influence of Insurtech innovations on the competitive dynamics and consumer choices in insurance markets
• Investigating the factors affecting consumer behaviour in insurance product selection and the role of digital channels in influencing decisions
• Assessing the effect of regulatory changes on insurance product offerings
• Examining the determinants of insurance penetration in emerging markets
• Evaluating the operational efficiency of claims management processes in insurance companies and its impact on customer satisfaction
• Examining the evolution and effectiveness of risk assessment models used in insurance underwriting and their impact on pricing and coverage
• Evaluating the role of insurance in financial stability and economic development
• Investigating the impact of climate change on insurance models and products
• Exploring the challenges and opportunities in underwriting cyber insurance in the face of evolving cyber threats and regulations

Quantitative Finance

These topic ideas span the development of asset pricing models, evaluation of machine learning algorithms, and the exploration of ethical implications among other pivotal areas.

• Developing and testing new quantitative models for asset pricing
• Analysing the effectiveness and limitations of machine learning algorithms in predicting financial market movements
• Assessing the effectiveness of various risk management techniques in quantitative finance
• Evaluating the advancements in portfolio optimisation techniques and their impact on risk-adjusted returns
• Evaluating the impact of high-frequency trading on market efficiency and stability
• Investigating the influence of algorithmic trading strategies on market efficiency and liquidity
• Examining the risk parity approach in asset allocation and its effectiveness in different market conditions
• Examining the application of machine learning and artificial intelligence in quantitative financial analysis
• Investigating the ethical implications of quantitative financial innovations
• Assessing the profitability and market impact of statistical arbitrage strategies considering different market microstructures

Treasury Management

The following topic ideas explore treasury management, focusing on modernisation through technological advancements, the impact on firm liquidity, and the intertwined relationship with corporate governance among other crucial areas.

• Analysing the impact of treasury management practices on firm liquidity and profitability
• Analysing the role of automation in enhancing operational efficiency and strategic decision-making in treasury management
• Evaluating the effectiveness of various cash management strategies in multinational corporations
• Investigating the potential of blockchain technology in streamlining treasury operations and enhancing transparency
• Examining the role of treasury management in mitigating financial risks
• Evaluating the accuracy and effectiveness of various cash flow forecasting techniques employed in treasury management
• Assessing the impact of technological advancements on treasury management operations
• Examining the effectiveness of different foreign exchange risk management strategies employed by treasury managers in multinational corporations
• Assessing the impact of regulatory compliance requirements on the operational and strategic aspects of treasury management
• Investigating the relationship between treasury management and corporate governance

Financial Technology (FinTech)

The following research topic ideas explore the transformative potential of blockchain, the rise of open banking, and the burgeoning landscape of peer-to-peer lending among other focal areas.

• Evaluating the impact of blockchain technology on financial services
• Investigating the implications of open banking on consumer data privacy and financial services competition
• Assessing the role of FinTech in financial inclusion in emerging markets
• Analysing the role of peer-to-peer lending platforms in promoting financial inclusion and their impact on traditional banking systems
• Examining the cybersecurity challenges faced by FinTech firms and the regulatory measures to ensure data protection and financial stability
• Examining the regulatory challenges and opportunities in the FinTech ecosystem
• Assessing the impact of artificial intelligence on the delivery of financial services, customer experience, and operational efficiency within FinTech firms
• Analysing the adoption and impact of cryptocurrencies on traditional financial systems
• Investigating the determinants of success for FinTech startups

Commercial Banking

These topic ideas span commercial banking, encompassing digital transformation, support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and the evolving regulatory and competitive landscape among other key themes.

• Assessing the impact of digital transformation on commercial banking services and competitiveness
• Analysing the impact of digital transformation on customer experience and operational efficiency in commercial banking
• Evaluating the role of commercial banks in supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
• Investigating the effectiveness of credit risk management practices and their impact on bank profitability and financial stability
• Examining the relationship between commercial banking practices and financial stability
• Evaluating the implications of open banking frameworks on the competitive landscape and service innovation in commercial banking
• Assessing how regulatory changes affect lending practices and risk appetite of commercial banks
• Examining how commercial banks are adapting their strategies in response to competition from FinTech firms and changing consumer preferences
• Analysing the impact of regulatory compliance on commercial banking operations
• Investigating the determinants of customer satisfaction and loyalty in commercial banking

International Finance

The folowing research topic ideas are centred around international finance and global economic dynamics, delving into aspects like exchange rate fluctuations, international financial regulations, and the role of international financial institutions among other pivotal areas.

• Analysing the determinants of exchange rate fluctuations and their impact on international trade
• Analysing the influence of global trade agreements on international financial flows and foreign direct investments
• Evaluating the effectiveness of international portfolio diversification strategies in mitigating risks and enhancing returns
• Evaluating the role of international financial institutions in global financial stability
• Investigating the role and implications of offshore financial centres on international financial stability and regulatory harmonisation
• Examining the impact of global financial crises on emerging market economies
• Examining the challenges and regulatory frameworks associated with cross-border banking operations
• Assessing the effectiveness of international financial regulations
• Investigating the challenges and opportunities of cross-border mergers and acquisitions

Choosing A Research Topic

These finance-related research topic ideas are starting points to guide your thinking. They are intentionally very broad and open-ended. By engaging with the currently literature in your field of interest, you’ll be able to narrow down your focus to a specific research gap .

When choosing a topic , you’ll need to take into account its originality, relevance, feasibility, and the resources you have at your disposal. Make sure to align your interest and expertise in the subject with your university program’s specific requirements. Always consult your academic advisor to ensure that your chosen topic not only meets the academic criteria but also provides a valuable contribution to the field. 

If you need a helping hand, feel free to check out our private coaching service here.

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• Open access
• Published: 18 June 2021

Financial technology and the future of banking

• Daniel Broby   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5482-0766 1  

Financial Innovation volume  7 , Article number:  47 ( 2021 ) Cite this article

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This paper presents an analytical framework that describes the business model of banks. It draws on the classical theory of banking and the literature on digital transformation. It provides an explanation for existing trends and, by extending the theory of the banking firm, it illustrates how financial intermediation will be impacted by innovative financial technology applications. It further reviews the options that established banks will have to consider in order to mitigate the threat to their profitability. Deposit taking and lending are considered in the context of the challenge made from shadow banking and the all-digital banks. The paper contributes to an understanding of the future of banking, providing a framework for scholarly empirical investigation. In the discussion, four possible strategies are proposed for market participants, (1) customer retention, (2) customer acquisition, (3) banking as a service and (4) social media payment platforms. It is concluded that, in an increasingly digital world, trust will remain at the core of banking. That said, liquidity transformation will still have an important role to play. The nature of banking and financial services, however, will change dramatically.

Introduction

The bank of the future will have several different manifestations. This paper extends theory to explain the impact of financial technology and the Internet on the nature of banking. It provides an analytical framework for academic investigation, highlighting the trends that are shaping scholarly research into these dynamics. To do this, it re-examines the nature of financial intermediation and transactions. It explains how digital banking will be structurally, as well as physically, different from the banks described in the literature to date. It does this by extending the contribution of Klein ( 1971 ), on the theory of the banking firm. It presents suggested strategies for incumbent, and challenger banks, and how banking as a service and social media payment will reshape the competitive landscape.

The banking industry has been evolving since Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena opened its doors in 1472. Its leveraged business model has proved very scalable over time, but it is now facing new challenges. Firstly, its book to capital ratios, as documented by Berger et al ( 1995 ), have been consistently falling since 1840. This trend continues as competition has increased. In the past decade, the industry has experienced declines in profitability as measured by return on tangible equity. This is partly the result of falling leverage and fee income and partly due to the net interest margin (connected to traditional lending activity). These trends accelerated following the 2008 financial crisis. At the same time, technology has made banks more competitive. Advances in digital technology are changing the very nature of banking. Banks are now distributing services via mobile technology. A prolonged period of very low interest rates is also having an impact. To sustain their profitability, Brei et al. ( 2020 ) note that many banks have increased their emphasis on fee-generating services.

As Fama ( 1980 ) explains, a bank is an intermediary. The Internet is, however, changing the way financial service providers conduct their role. It is fundamentally changing the nature of the banking. This in turn is changing the nature of banking services, and the way those services are delivered. As a consequence, in order to compete in the changing digital landscape, banks have to adapt. The banks of the future, both incumbents and challengers, need to address liquidity transformation, data, trust, competition, and the digitalization of financial services. Against this backdrop, incumbent banks are focused on reinventing themselves. The challenger banks are, however, starting with a blank canvas. The research questions that these dynamics pose need to be investigated within the context of the theory of banking, hence the need to revise the existing analytical framework.

Banks perform payment and transfer functions for an economy. The Internet can now facilitate and even perform these functions. It is changing the way that transactions are recorded on ledgers and is facilitating both public and private digital currencies. In the past, banks operated in a world of information asymmetry between themselves and their borrowers (clients), but this is changing. This differential gave one bank an advantage over another due to its knowledge about its clients. The digital transformation that financial technology brings reduces this advantage, as this information can be digitally analyzed.

Even the nature of deposits is being transformed. Banks in the future will have to accept deposits and process transactions made in digital form, either Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) or cryptocurrencies. This presents a number of issues: (1) it changes the way financial services will be delivered, (2) it requires a discussion on resilience, security and competition in payments, (3) it provides a building block for better cross border money transfers and (4) it raises the question of private and public issuance of money. Braggion et al ( 2018 ) consider whether these represent a threat to financial stability.

The academic study of banking began with Edgeworth ( 1888 ). He postulated that it is based on probability. In this respect, the nature of the business model depends on the probability that a bank will not be called upon to meet all its liabilities at the same time. This allows banks to lend more than they have in deposits. Because of the resultant mismatch between long term assets and short-term liabilities, a bank’s capital structure is very sensitive to liquidity trade-offs. This is explained by Diamond and Rajan ( 2000 ). They explain that this makes a bank a’relationship lender’. In effect, they suggest a bank is an intermediary that has borrowed from other investors.

Diamond and Rajan ( 2000 ) argue a lender can negotiate repayment obligations and that a bank benefits from its knowledge of the customer. As shall be shown, the new generation of digital challenger banks do not have the same tradeoffs or knowledge of the customer. They operate more like a broker providing a platform for banking services. This suggests that there will be more than one type of bank in the future and several different payment protocols. It also suggests that banks will have to data mine customer information to improve their understanding of a client’s financial needs.

The key focus of Diamond and Rajan ( 2000 ), however, was to position a traditional bank is an intermediary. Gurley and Shaw ( 1956 ) describe how the customer relationship means a bank can borrow funds by way of deposits (liabilities) and subsequently use them to lend or invest (assets). In facilitating this mediation, they provide a service whereby they store money and provide a mechanism to transmit money. With improvements in financial technology, however, money can be stored digitally, lenders and investors can source funds directly over the internet, and money transfer can be done digitally.

A review of financial technology and banking literature is provided by Thakor ( 2020 ). He highlights that financial service companies are now being provided by non-deposit taking contenders. This paper addresses one of the four research questions raised by his review, namely how theories of financial intermediation can be modified to accommodate banks, shadow banks, and non-intermediated solutions.

To be a bank, an entity must be authorized to accept retail deposits. A challenger bank is, therefore, still a bank in the traditional sense. It does not, however, have the costs of a branch network. A peer-to-peer lender, meanwhile, does not have a deposit base and therefore acts more like a broker. This leads to the issue that this paper addresses, namely how the banks of the future will conduct their intermediation.

In order to understand what the bank of the future will look like, it is necessary to understand the nature of the aforementioned intermediation, and the way it is changing. In this respect, there are two key types of intermediation. These are (1) quantitative asset transformation and, (2) brokerage. The latter is a common model adopted by challenger banks. Figure  1 depicts how these two types of financial intermediation match savers with borrowers. To avoid nuanced distinction between these two types of intermediation, it is common to classify banks by the services they perform. These can be grouped as either private, investment, or commercial banking. The service sub-groupings include payments, settlements, fund management, trading, treasury management, brokerage, and other agency services.

How banks act as intermediaries between lenders and borrowers. This function call also be conducted by intermediaries as brokers, for example by shadow banks. Disintermediation occurs over the internet where peer-to-peer lenders match savers to lenders

Financial technology has the ability to disintermediate the banking sector. The competitive pressures this results in will shape the banks of the future. The channels that will facilitate this are shown in Fig.  2 , namely the Internet and/or mobile devices. Challengers can participate in this by, (1) directly matching borrows with savers over the Internet and, (2) distributing white labels products. The later enables banking as a service and avoids the aforementioned liquidity mismatch.

The strategic options banks have to match lenders with borrowers. The traditional and challenger banks are in the same space, competing for business. The distributed banks use the traditional and challenger banks to white label banking services. These banks compete with payment platforms on social media. The Internet heralds an era of banking as a service

There are also physical changes that are being made in the delivery of services. Bricks and mortar branches are in decline. Mobile banking, or m-banking as Liu et al ( 2020 ) describe it, is an increasingly important distribution channel. Robotics are increasingly being used to automate customer interaction. As explained by Vishnu et al ( 2017 ), these improve efficiency and the quality of execution. They allow for increased oversight and can be built on legacy systems as well as from a blank canvas. Application programming interfaces (APIs) are bringing the same type of functionality to m-banking. They can be used to authorize third party use of banking data. How banks evolve over time is important because, according to the OECD, the activity in the financial sector represents between 20 and 30 percent of developed countries Gross Domestic Product.

In summary, financial technology has evolved to a level where online banks and banking as a service are challenging incumbents and the nature of banking mediation. Banking is rapidly transforming because of changes in such technology. At the same time, the solving of the double spending problem, whereby digital money can be cryptographically protected, has led to the possibility that paper money will become redundant at some point in the future. A theoretical framework is required to understand this evolving landscape. This is discussed next.

The theory of the banking firm: a revision

In financial theory, as eloquently explained by Fama ( 1980 ), banking provides an accounting system for transactions and a portfolio system for the storage of assets. That will not change for the banks of the future. Fama ( 1980 ) explains that their activities, in an unregulated state, fulfil the Modigliani–Miller ( 1959 ) theorem of the irrelevance of the financing decision. In practice, traditional banks compete for deposits through the interest rate they offer. This makes the transactional element dependent on the resulting debits and credits that they process, essentially making banks into bookkeeping entities fulfilling the intermediation function. Since this is done in response to competitive forces, the general equilibrium is a passive one. As such, the banking business model is vulnerable to disruption, particularly by innovation in financial technology.

A bank is an idiosyncratic corporate entity due to its ability to generate credit by leveraging its balance sheet. That balance sheet has assets on one side and liabilities on the other, like any corporate entity. The assets consist of cash, lending, financial and fixed assets. On the other side of the balance sheet are its liabilities, deposits, and debt. In this respect, a bank’s equity and its liabilities are its source of funds, and its assets are its use of funds. This is explained by Klein ( 1971 ), who notes that a bank’s equity W , borrowed funds and its deposits B is equal to its total funds F . This is the same for incumbents and challengers. This can be depicted algebraically if we let incumbents be represented by Φ and challengers represented by Γ:

Klein ( 1971 ) further explains that a bank’s equity is therefore made up of its share capital and unimpaired reserves. The latter are held by a bank to protect the bank’s deposit clients. This part is also mandated by regulation, so as to protect customers and indeed the entire banking system from systemic failure. These protective measures include other prudential requirements to hold cash reserves or other liquid assets. As shall be shown, banking services can be performed over the Internet without these protections. Banking as a service, as this phenomenon known, is expected to increase in the future. This will change the nature of the protection available to clients. It will change the way banks transform assets, explained next.

A bank’s deposits are said to be a function of the proportion of total funds obtained through the issuance of the ith deposit type and its total funds F , represented by α i . Where deposits, represented by Bs , are made in the form of Bs (i  =  1 *s n) , they generate a rate of interest. It follows that Si Bs  =  B . As such,

Therefor it can be said that,

The importance of Eq. 3 is that the balance sheet can be leveraged by the issuance of loans. It should be noted, however, that not all loans are returned to the bank in whole or part. Non-performing loans reduce the asset side of a bank’s balance sheet and act as a constraint on capital, and therefore new lending. Clearly, this is not the case with banking as a service. In that model, loans are brokered. That said, with the traditional model, an advantage of financial technology is that it facilitates the data mining of clients’ accounts. Lending can therefore be more targeted to borrowers that are more likely to repay, thereby reducing non-performing loans. Pari passu, the incumbent bank of the future will therefore have a higher risk-adjusted return on capital. In practice, however, banking as a service will bring greater competition from challengers and possible further erosion of margins. Alternatively, some banks will proactively engage in partnerships and acquisitions to maintain their customer base and address the competition.

A bank must have reserves to meet the demand of customers demanding their deposits back. The amount of these reserves is a key function of banking regulation. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision mandates a requirement to hold various tiers of capital, so that banks have sufficient reserves to protect depositors. The Committee also imposes a framework for mitigating excessive liquidity risk and maturity transformation, through a set Liquidity Coverage Ratio and Net Stable Funding Ratio.

Recent revisions of theory, because of financial technology advances, have altered our understanding of banking intermediation. This will impact the competitive landscape and therefor shape the nature of the bank of the future. In this respect, the threat to incumbent banks comes from peer-to-peer Internet lending platforms. These perform the brokerage function of financial intermediation without the use of the aforementioned banking balance sheet. Unlike regulated deposit takers, such lending platforms do not create assets and do not perform risk and asset transformation. That said, they are reliant on investors who do not always behave in a counter cyclical way.

Financial technology in banking is not new. It has been used to facilitate electronic markets since the 1980’s. Thakor ( 2020 ) refers to three waves of application of financial innovation in banking. The advent of institutional futures markets and the changing nature of financial contracts fundamentally changed the role of banks. In response to this, academics extended the concept of a bank into an entity that either fulfills the aforementioned functions of a broker or a qualitative asset transformer. In this respect, they connect the providers and users of capital without changing the nature of the transformation of the various claims to that capital. This transformation can be in the form risk transfer or the application of leverage. The nature of trading of financial assets, however, is changing. Price discovery can now be done over the Internet and that is moving liquidity from central marketplaces (like the stock exchange) to decentralized ones.

Alongside these trends, in considering what the bank of the future will look like, it is necessary to understand the unregulated lending market that competes with traditional banks. In this part of the lending market, there has been a rise in shadow banks. The literature on these entities is covered by Adrian and Ashcraft ( 2016 ). Shadow banks have taken substantial market share from the traditional banks. They fulfil the brokerage function of banks, but regulators have only partial oversight of their risk transformation or leverage. The rise of shadow banks has been facilitated by financial technology and the originate to distribute model documented by Bord and Santos ( 2012 ). They use alternative trading systems that function as electronic communication networks. These facilitate dark pools of liquidity whereby buyers and sellers of bonds and securities trade off-exchange. Since the credit crisis of 2008, total broker dealer assets have diverged from banking assets. This illustrates the changed lending environment.

In the disintermediated market, banking as a service providers must rely on their equity and what access to funding they can attract from their online network. Without this they are unable to drive lending growth. To explain this, let I represent the online network. Extending Klein ( 1971 ), further let Ψ represent banking as a service and their total funds by F . This state is depicted as,

Theoretically, it can be shown that,

Shadow banks, and those disintermediators who bypass the banking system, have an advantage in a world where technology is ubiquitous. This becomes more apparent when costs are considered. Buchak et al. ( 2018 ) point out that shadow banks finance their originations almost entirely through securitization and what they term the originate to distribute business model. Diversifying risk in this way is good for individual banks, as banking risks can be transferred away from traditional banking balance sheets to institutional balance sheets. That said, the rise of securitization has introduced systemic risk into the banking sector.

Thus, we can see that the nature of banking capital is changing and at the same time technology is replacing labor. Let A denote the number of transactions per account at a period in time, and C denote the total cost per account per time period of providing the services of the payment mechanism. Klein ( 1971 ) points out that, if capital and labor are assumed to be part of the traditional banking model, it can be observed that,

It can therefore be observed that the total service charge per account at a period in time, represented by S, has a linear and proportional relationship to bank account activity. This is another variable that financial technology can impact. According to Klein ( 1971 ) this can be summed up in the following way,

where d is the basic bank decision variable, the service charge per transaction. Once again, in an automated and digital environment, financial technology greatly reduces d for the challenger banks. Swankie and Broby ( 2019 ) examine the impact of Artificial Intelligence on the evaluation of banking risk and conclude that it improves such variables.

Meanwhile, the traditional banking model can be expressed as a product of the number of accounts, M , and the average size of an account, N . This suggests a banks implicit yield is it rate of interest on deposits adjusted by its operating loss in each time period. This yield is generated by payment and loan services. Let R 1 depict this. These can be expressed as a fraction of total demand deposits. This is depicted by Klein ( 1971 ), if one assumes activity per account is constant, as,

As a result, whether a bank is structured with traditional labor overheads or built digitally, is extremely relevant to its profitability. The capital and labor of tradition banks, depicted as Φ i , is greater than online networks, depicted as I i . As such, the later have an advantage. This can be shown as,

What Klein (1972) failed to highlight is that the banking inherently involves leverage. Diamond and Dybving (1983) show that leverage makes bank susceptible to run on their liquidity. The literature divides these between adverse shock events, as explained by Bernanke et al ( 1996 ) or moral hazard events as explained by Demirgu¨¸c-Kunt and Detragiache ( 2002 ). This leverage builds on the balance sheet mismatch of short-term assets with long term liabilities. As such, capital and liquidity are intrinsically linked to viability and solvency.

The way capital and liquidity are managed is through credit and default management. This is done at a bank level and a supervisory level. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision applies capital and leverage ratios, and central banks manage interest rates and other counter-cyclical measures. The various iterations of the prudential regulation of banks have moved the microeconomic theory of banking from the modeling of risk to the modeling of imperfect information. As mentioned, shadow and disintermediated services do not fall under this form or prudential regulation.

The relationship between leverage and insolvency risk crucially depends on the degree of banks total funds F and their liability structure L . In this respect, the liability structure of traditional banks is also greater than online networks which do not have the same level of available funds, depicted as,

Diamond and Dybvig ( 1983 ) observe that this liability structure is intimately tied to a traditional bank’s assets. In this respect, a bank’s ability to finance its lending at low cost and its ability to achieve repayment are key to its avoidance of insolvency. Online networks and/or brokers do not have to finance their lending, simply source it. Similarly, as brokers they do not face capital loss in the event of a default. This disintermediates the bank through the use of a peer-to-peer environment. These lenders and borrowers are introduced in digital way over the internet. Regulators have taken notice and the digital broker advantage might not last forever. As a result, the future may well see greater cooperation between these competing parties. This also because banks have valuable operational experience compared to new entrants.

It should also be observed that bank lending is either secured or unsecured. Interest on an unsecured loan is typically higher than the interest on a secured loan. In this respect, incumbent banks have an advantage as their closeness to the customer allows them to better understand the security of the assets. Berger et al ( 2005 ) further differentiate lending into transaction lending, relationship lending and credit scoring.

The evolution of the business model in a digital world

As has been demonstrated, the bank of the future in its various manifestations will be a consequence of the evolution of the current banking business model. There has been considerable scholarly investigation into the uniqueness of this business model, but less so on its changing nature. Song and Thakor ( 2010 ) are helpful in this respect and suggest that there are three aspects to this evolution, namely competition, complementary and co-evolution. Although liquidity transformation is evolving, it remains central to a bank’s role.

All the dynamics mentioned are relevant to the economy. There is considerable evidence, as outlined by Levine ( 2001 ), that market liberalization has a causal impact on economic growth. The impact of technology on productivity should prove positive and enhance the functioning of the domestic financial system. Indeed, market liberalization has already reshaped banking by increasing competition. New fee based ancillary financial services have become widespread, as has the proprietorial use of balance sheets. Risk has been securitized and even packaged into trade-able products.

Challenger banks are developing in a complementary way with the incumbents. The latter have an advantage over new entrants because they have information on their customers. The liquidity insurance model, proposed by Diamond and Dybvig ( 1983 ), explains how such banks have informational advantages over exchange markets. That said, financial technology changes these dynamics. It if facilitating the processing of financial data by third parties, explained in greater detail in the section on Open Banking.

At the same time, financial technology is facilitating banking as a service. This is where financial services are delivered by a broker over the Internet without resort to the balance sheet. This includes roboadvisory asset management, peer to peer lending, and crowd funding. Its growth will be facilitated by Open Banking as it becomes more geographically adopted. Figure  3 illustrates how these business models are disintermediating the traditional banking role and matching burrowers and savers.

The traditional view of banks ecosystem between savers and borrowers, atop the Internet which is matching savers and borrowers directly in a peer-to-peer way. The Klein ( 1971 ) theory of the banking firm does not incorporate the mirrored dynamics, and as such needs to be extended to reflect the digital innovation that impacts both borrowers and severs in a peer-to-peer environment

Meanwhile, the banking sector is co-evolving alongside a shadow banking phenomenon. Lenders and borrowers are interacting, but outside of the banking sector. This is a concern for central banks and banking regulators, as the lending is taking place in an unregulated environment. Shadow banking has grown because of financial technology, market liberalization and excess liquidity in the asset management ecosystem. Pozsar and Singh ( 2011 ) detail the non-bank/bank intersection of shadow banking. They point out that shadow banking results in reverse maturity transformation. Incumbent banks have blurred the distinction between their use of traditional (M2) liabilities and market-based shadow banking (non-M2) liabilities. This impacts the inter-generational transfers that enable a bank to achieve interest rate smoothing.

Securitization has transformed the risk in the banking sector, transferring it to asset management institutions. These include structured investment vehicles, securities lenders, asset backed commercial paper investors, credit focused hedge and money market funds. This in turn has led to greater systemic risk, the result of the nature of the non-traded liabilities of securitized pooling arrangements. This increased risk manifested itself in the 2008 credit crisis.

Commercial pressures are also shaping the banking industry. The drive for cost efficiency has made incumbent banks address their personally costs. Bank branches have been closed as technology has evolved. Branches make it easier to withdraw or transfer deposits and challenger banks are not as easily able to attract new deposits. The banking sector is therefore looking for new point of customer contact, such as supermarkets, post offices and social media platforms. These structural issues are occurring at the same time as the retail high street is also evolving. Banks have had an aggressive roll out of automated telling machines and a reduction in branches and headcount. Online digital transactions have now become the norm in most developed countries.

The financing of banks is also evolving. Traditional banks have tended to fund illiquid assets with short term and unstable liquid liabilities. This is one of the key contributors to the rise to the credit crisis of 2008. The provision of liquidity as a last resort is central to the asset transformation process. In this respect, the banking sector experienced a shock in 2008 in what is termed the credit crisis. The aforementioned liquidity mismatch resulted in the system not being able to absorb all the risks associated with subprime lending. Central banks had to resort to quantitative easing as a result of the failure of overnight funding mechanisms. The image of the entire banking sector was tarnished, and the banks of the future will have to address this.

The future must learn from the mistakes of the past. The structural weakness of the banking business model cannot be solved. That said, the latest Basel rules introduce further risk mitigation, improved leverage ratios and increased levels of capital reserve. Another lesson of the credit crisis was that there should be greater emphasis on risk culture, governance, and oversight. The independence and performance of the board, the experience and the skill set of senior management are now a greater focus of regulators. Internal controls and data analysis are increasingly more robust and efficient, with a greater focus on a banks stable funding ratio.

Meanwhile, the very nature of money is changing. A digital wallet for crypto-currencies fulfills much the same storage and transmission functions of a bank; and crypto-currencies are increasing being used for payment. Meanwhile, in Sweden, stores have the right to refuse cash and the majority of transactions are card based. This move to credit and debit cards, and the solving of the double spending problem, whereby digital money can be crypto-graphically protected, has led to the possibility that paper money could be replaced at some point in the future. Whether this might be by replacement by a CBDC, or decentralized digital offering, is of secondary importance to the requirement of banks to adapt. Whether accommodating crytpo-currencies or CBDC’s, Kou et al. ( 2021 ) recommend that banks keep focused on alternative payment and money transferring technologies.

Central banks also have to adapt. To limit disintermediation, they have to ensure that the economic design of their sponsored digital currencies focus on access for banks, interest payment relative to bank policy rate, banking holding limits and convertibility with bank deposits. All these developments have implications for banks, particularly in respect of funding, the secure storage of deposits and how digital currency interacts with traditional fiat money.

Open banking

Against the backdrop of all these trends and changes, a new dynamic is shaping the future of the banking sector. This is termed Open Banking, already briefly mentioned. This new way of handling banking data protocols introduces a secure way to give financial service companies consensual access to a bank’s customer financial information. Figure  4 illustrates how this works. Although a fairly simple concept, the implications are important for the banking industry. Essentially, a bank customer gives a regulated API permission to securely access his/her banking website. That is then used by a banking as a service entity to make direct payments and/or download financial data in order to provide a solution. It heralds an era of customer centric banking.

How Open Banking operates. The customer generates data by using his bank account. A third party provider is authorized to access that data through an API request. The bank confirms digitally that the customer has authorized the exchange of data and then fulfills the request

Open Banking was a response to the documented inertia around individual’s willingness to change bank accounts. Following the Retail Banking Review in the UK, this was addressed by lawmakers through the European Union’s Payment Services Directive II. The legislation was designed to make it easier to change banks by allowing customers to delegate authority to transfer their financial data to other parties. As a result of this, a whole host of data centric applications were conceived. Open banking adds further momentum to reshaping the future of banking.

Open Banking has a number of quite revolutionary implications. It was started so customers could change banks easily, but it resulted in some secondary considerations which are going to change the future of banking itself. It gives a clear view of bank financing. It allows aggregation of finances in one place. It also allows can give access to attractive offerings by allowing price comparisons. Open Banking API’s build a secure online financial marketplace based on data. They also allow access to a larger market in a faster way but the third-party providers for the new entrants. Open Banking allows developers to build single solutions on an API addressing very specific problems, like for example, a cash flow based credit rating.

Romānova et al. ( 2018 ) undertook a questionnaire on the Payment Services Directive II. The results suggest that Open Banking will promote competitiveness, innovation, and new product development. The initiative is associated with low costs and customer satisfaction, but that some concerns about security, privacy and risk are present. These can be mitigated, to some extent, by secure protocols and layered permission access.

Discussion: strategic options

Faced with these disruptive trends, there are four strategic options for market participants to con- sider. There are (1) a defensive customer retention strategy for incumbents, (2) an aggressive customer acquisition strategy for challenger banks (3) a banking as a service strategy for new entrants, and (4) a payments strategy for social media platforms.

Each of these strategies has to be conducted in a competitive marketplace for money demand by potential customers. Figure  5 illustrates where the first three strategies lie on the tradeoff between money demand and interest rates. The payment strategy can’t be modeled based on the supply of money. In the figure, the market settles at a rate L 2 . The incumbent banks have the capacity to meet the largest supply of these loans. The challenger banks have a constrained function but due to a lower cost base can gain excess rent through higher rates of interest. The peer-to-peer bank as a service brokers must settle for the market rate and a constrained supply offering.

The money demand M by lenders on the y axis. Interest rates on the y axis are labeled as r I and r II . The challenger banks are represented by the line labeled Γ. They have a price and technology advantage and so can lend at higher interest rates. The brokers are represented by the line labeled Ω. They are price takers, accepting the interest rate determined by the market. The same is true for the incumbents, represented by the line labeled Φ but they have a greater market share due to their customer relationships. Note that payments strategy for social media platforms is not shown on this figure as it is not affected by interest rates

Figure  5 illustrates that having a niche strategy is not counterproductive. Liu et al ( 2020 ) found that banks performing niche activities exhibit higher profitability and have lower risk. The syndication market now means that a bank making a loan does not have to be the entity that services it. This means banks in the future can better shape their risk profile and manage their lending books accordingly.

An interesting question for central banks is what the future Deposit Supply function will look like. If all three forms: open banking, traditional banking and challenger banks develop together, will the bank of the future have the same Deposit Supply function? The Klein ( 1971 ) general formulation assumes that deposits are increasing functions of implicit and explicit yields. As such, the very nature of central bank directed monetary policy may have to be revisited, as alluded to in the earlier discussion on digital money.

The client retention strategy (incumbents)

The competitive pressures suggest that incumbent banks need to focus on customer retention. Reichheld and Kenny ( 1990 ) found that the best way to do this was to focus on the retention of branch deposit customers. Obviously, another way is to provide a unique digital experience that matches the challengers.

Incumbent banks have a competitive advantage based on the information they have about their customers. Allen ( 1990 ) argues that where risk aversion is observable, information markets are viable. In other words, both bank and customer benefit from this. The strategic issue for them, therefore, becomes the retention of these customers when faced with greater competition.

Open Banking changes the dynamics of the banking information advantage. Borgogno and Colangelo ( 2020 ) suggest that the access to account (XS2A) rule that it introduced will increase competition and reduce information asymmetry. XS2A requires banks to grant access to bank account data to authorized third payment service providers.

The incumbent banks have a high-cost base and legacy IT systems. This makes it harder for them to migrate to a digital world. There are, however, also benefits from financial technology for the incumbents. These include reduced cost and greater efficiency. Financial technology can also now support platforms that allow incumbent banks to sell NPL’s. These platforms do not require the ownership of assets, they act as consolidators. The use of technology to monitor the transactions make the processing cost efficient. The unique selling point of such platforms is their centralized point of contact which results in a reduction in information asymmetry.

Incumbent banks must adapt a number of areas they got to adapt in terms of their liquidity transformation. They have to adapt the way they handle data. They must get customers to trust them in a digital world and the way that they trust them in a bricks and mortar world. It is no coincidence. When you go into a bank branch that is a great big solid building great big facade and so forth that is done deliberately so that you trust that bank with your deposit.

The risk of having rising non-performing loans needs to be managed, so customer retention should be selective. One of the puzzles in banking is why customers are regularly denied credit, rather than simply being charged a higher price for it. This credit rationing is often alleviated by collateral, but finance theory suggests value is based on the discounted sum of future cash flows. As such, it is conceivable that the bank of the future will use financial technology to provide innovative credit allocation solutions. That said, the dual risks of moral hazard and information asymmetries from the adoption of such solutions must be addressed.

Customer retention is especially important as bank competition is intensifying, as is the digitalization of financial services. Customer retention requires innovation, and that innovation has been moving at a very fast rate. Until now, banks have traditionally been hesitant about technology. More recently, mergers and acquisitions have increased quite substantially, initiated by a need to address actual or perceived weaknesses in financial technology.

The client acquisition strategy (challengers)

As intermediaries, the challenger banks are the same as incumbent banks, but designed from the outset to be digital. This gives them a cost and efficiency advantage. Anagnostopoulos ( 2018 ) suggests that the difference between challenger and traditional banks is that the former address its customers problems more directly. The challenge for such banks is customer acquisition.

Open Banking is a major advantage to challenger banks as it facilitates the changing of accounts. There is widespread dissatisfaction with many incumbent banks. Open Banking makes it easier to change accounts and also easier to get a transaction history on the client.

Customer acquisition can be improved by building trust in a brand. Historically, a bank was physically built in a very robust manner, hence the heavy architecture and grand banking halls. This was done deliberately to engender a sense of confidence in the deposit taking institution. Pure internet banks are not able to do this. As such, they must employ different strategies to convey stability. To do this, some communicate their sustainability credentials, whilst others use generational values-based advertising. Customer acquisition in a banking context is traditionally done by offering more attractive rates of interest. This is illustrated in Fig.  5 by the intersect of traditional banks with the market rate of interest, depicted where the line Γ crosses L 2 . As a result of the relationship with banking yield, teaser rates and introductory rates are common. A customer acquisition strategy has risks, as consumers with good credit can game different challenger banks by frequently changing accounts.

Most customer acquisition, however, is done based on superior service offering. The functionality of challenger banking accounts is often superior to incumbents, largely because the latter are built on legacy databases that have inter-operability issues. Having an open platform of services is a popular customer acquisition technique. The unrestricted provision of third-party products is viewed more favorably than a restricted range of products.

The banking as a service strategy (new entrants)

Banking from a customer’s perspective is the provision of a service. Customers don’t care about the maturity transformation of banking balance sheets. Banking as a service can be performed without recourse to these balance sheets. Banking products are brokered, mostly by new entrants, to individuals as services that can be subscribed to or paid on a fee basis.

There are a number banking as a service solutions including pre-paid and credit cards, lending and leasing. The banking as a service brokers are effectively those that are aggregating services from others using open banking to enable banking as a service.

The rise of banking as a service needs to be understood as these compete directly with traditional banks. As explained, some of these do this through peer-to-peer lending over the internet, others by matching borrows and sellers, conducting mediation as a loan broker. Such entities do not transform assets and do not have banking licenses. They do not have a branch network and often don not have access to deposits. This means that they have no insurance protection and can be subject to interest rate controls.

The new genre of financial technology, banking as a service provider, conduct financial services transformation without access to central bank liquidity. In a distributed digital asset world, the assets are stored on a distributed ledger rather than a traditional banking ledger. Financial technology has automated credit evaluation, savings, investments, insurance, trading, banking payments and risk management. These banking as a service offering are only as secure as the technology on which they are built.

The social media payment strategy (disintermediators and disruptors)

An intermediation bank is a conceptual idea, one created solely on a social networking site. Social media has developed a market for online goods and services. Williams ( 2018 ) estimates that there are 2.46 billion social media users. These all make and receive payments of some kind. They demand security and functionality. Importantly, they have often more clients than most banks. As such, a strategy to monetize the payments infrastructure makes sense.

All social media platforms are rich repositories of data. Such platforms are used to buy and sell things and that requires payments. Some platforms are considering evolving their own digital payment, cutting out the banks as middlemen. These include Facebook’s Diem (formerly Libra), a digital currency, and similar developments at some of the biggest technology companies. The risk with social media payment platform is that there is systemic counter-party protection. Regulators need to address this. One way to do this would be to extend payment service insurance to such platforms.

Social media as a platform moves the payment relationship from a transaction to a customer experience. The ability to use consumer desires in combination with financial data has the potential to deliver a number of new revenue opportunities. These will compete directly with the banks of the future. This will have implications for (1) the money supply, (2) the market share of traditional banks and, (3) the services that payment providers offer.

Further research

Several recommendations for research derive from both the impact of disintermediation and the four proposed strategies that will shape banking in the future. The recommendations and suggestions are based on the mentioned papers and the conclusions drawn from them.

As discussed, the nature of intermediation is changing, and this has implications for the pricing of risk. The role of interest rates in banking will have to be further reviewed. In a decentralized world based on crypto currencies the central banks do not have the same control over the money supply, This suggest the quantity theory of money and the liquidity preference theory need to be revisited. As explained, the Internet reduces much of the friction costs of intermediation. Researchers should ask how this will impact maturity transformation. It is also fair to ask whether at some point in the future there will just be one big bank. This question has already been addressed in the literature but the Internet facilities the possibility. Diamond ( 1984 ) and Ramakrishnan and Thakor ( 1984 ) suggested the answer was due to diversification and its impact on reducing monitoring costs.

Attention should be given by academics to the changing nature of banking risk. How should regulators, for example, address the moral hazard posed by challenger banks with weak balance sheets? What about deposit insurance? Should it be priced to include unregulated entities? Also, what criteria do borrowers use to choose non-banking intermediaries? The changing risk environment also poses two interesting practical questions. What will an online bank run look like, and how can it be averted? How can you establish trust in digital services?

There are also research questions related to the nature of competition. What, for example, will be the nature of cross border competition in a decentralized world? Is the credit rationing that generates competition a static or dynamic phenomena online? What is the value of combining consumer utility with banking services?

Financial intermediaries, like banks, thrive in a world of deficits and surpluses supported by information asymmetries and disconnectedness. The connectivity of the internet changes this dynamic. In this respect, the view of Schumpeter ( 1911 ) on the role of financial intermediaries needs revisiting. Lenders and borrows can be connected peer to peer via the internet.

All the dynamics mentioned change the nature of moral hazard. This needs further investigation. There has been much scholarly research on the intrinsic riskiness of the mismatch between banking assets and liabilities. This mismatch not only results in potential insolvency for a single bank but potentially for the whole system. There has, for example, been much debate on the whether a bank can be too big to fail. As a result of the riskiness of the banking model, the banks of the future will be just a liable to fail as the banks of the past.

This paper presented a revision of the theory of banking in a digital world. In this respect, it built on the work of Klein ( 1971 ). It provided an overview of the changing nature of banking intermediation, a result of the Internet and new digital business models. It presented the traditional academic view of banking and how it is evolving. It showed how this is adapted to explain digital driven disintermediation.

It was shown that the banking industry is facing several documented challenges. Risk is being taken of balance sheet, securitized, and brokered. Financial technology is digitalizing service delivery. At the same time, the very nature of intermediation is being changed due to digital currency. It is argued that the bank of the future not only has to face these competitive issues, but that technology will enhance the delivery of banking services and reduce the cost of their delivery.

The paper further presented the importance of the Open Banking revolution and how that facilitates banking as a service. Open Banking is increasing client churn and driving banking as a service. That in turn is changing the way products are delivered.

Four strategies were proposed to navigate the evolving competitive landscape. These are for incumbents to address customer retention; for challengers to peruse a low-cost digital experience; for niche players to provide banking as a service; and for social media platforms to develop payment platforms. In all these scenarios, the banks of the future will have to have digital strategies for both payments and service delivery.

It was shown that both incumbents and challengers are dependent on capital availability and borrowers credit concerns. Nothing has changed in that respect. The risks remain credit and default risk. What is clear, however, is the bank has become intrinsically linked with technology. The Internet is changing the nature of mediation. It is allowing peer to peer matching of borrowers and savers. It is facilitating new payment protocols and digital currencies. Banks need to evolve and adapt to accommodate these. Most of these questions are empirical in nature. The aim of this paper, however, was to demonstrate that an understanding of the banking model is a prerequisite to understanding how to address these and how to develop hypotheses connected with them.

In conclusion, financial technology is changing the future of banking and the way banks intermediate. It is facilitating digital money and the online transmission of financial assets. It is making banks more customer enteric and more competitive. Scholarly investigation into banking has to adapt. That said, whatever the future, trust will remain at the core of banking. Similarly, deposits and lending will continue to attract regulatory oversight.

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Research evolution in banking performance: a bibliometric analysis

• S. M. Shamsul Alam 1 ,
• Mohammad Abdul Matin Chowdhury   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6860-2305 1 &
• Dzuljastri Bin Abdul Razak 1  

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Banking performance has been regarded as a crucial factor of economic growth. Banks collect deposits from surplus and provide loans to the investors that contribute to the total economic growth. Recent development in the banking industry is channelling the funds and participating in economic activities directly. Hence, academic researchers are gradually showing their concern on banking performance and its effect on economic growth. Therefore, this study aims to explore the academic researchers on this particular academic research article. By extracting data from the web of Science online database, this study employed the bibliometrix package (biblioshiny) in the ‘R’ and VOSviewer tool to conduct performance and science mapping analyses. A total of 1308 research documents were analysed, and 36 documents were critically reviewed. The findings exhibited a recent growth in academic publications. Three major themes are mainly identified, efficiency measurement, corporate governance effect and impact on economic growth. Besides, the content analysis represents the most common analysis techniques used in the past studies, namely DEA and GMM. The findings of this study will be beneficial to both bank managers and owners to gauge a better understanding of banking performance. Meanwhile, academic researchers and students may find the findings and suggestions to study in the banking area.

Introduction

The financial services formed a significant contributory trademark in the overall economic growth by stimulating employment, offering vast avenues for investment and services to the consumers and the society [ 1 ]. Thus, economic development is led by economic growth whereby required capital is provided by the financial services [ 2 ]. Suggestively, capital creation by the financial services industry through accumulation and mobilisation of resources is considered the most crucial economic growth strategy component [ 3 ]. The banking system associates with creating funds by accumulating funds from surplus and channelling them to the investors as credit; those exhibit excellent ideas to generate a surplus in the economy but lack the capital to implement such ideas [ 4 , 5 ]. Accordingly, the banking system plays a vital role to pledge the leading role of finance in economic development and promoting stable and healthy financial and economic development [ 6 ].

Banking performance has been regarded as a crucial factor of economic growth [ 7 ]. Efficiency and productivity change measures are rapidly used to evaluate banking performance. Academic researchers have been focusing on the efficiency and productivity of banking institutions for a long period, while economic growth is carried out in the discussions. Discovering research activities on banking efficiency and productivity in economic growth enables researchers to identify the local and international input to this particular discipline. More so, it will enable researchers to identify the ‘hot spots’ discussed by academic researchers and find the research gaps [ 8 ]. Indeed, banking performance in standings is a broad scientific topic, and estimating research activities might not be useful. For instance, research activities in this area extended to several constituents such as methodological approaches, banking approaches. In the current study, banking efficiency and productivity are considered as banking performance that contributes to the economic growth of an economy. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to explore the research activities of banking performance to economic growth. The investigation of banking performance research activities will enable the researchers to find the present directions of the research area and thus speculates the future research suggestions. Besides, it will also enable to expound the depth of past research activities and themes on banking performance relating to the economic growth measurements.

The use of the bibliometric method is appropriate to demonstrate the research shape and activity, volume and growth in a specific discipline [ 9 ]. A bibliometric method is a quantitative application of bibliometric data [ 10 ]. It analyses a wide-ranging quantity of published research articles employing the statistical tool to identify trends and citations or/and co-citations of a certain theme by year, author, country, journal, theory, method, and research constituent [ 11 ]. Significantly, this technique further distinguishes key research themes and active researchers, countries and institutions for future research planning and funding [ 12 ]. Scholars apply this method for several reasons: to reveal emerging trends in published research articles and journal performance, cooperation patterns, and research elements, and to reconnoitre the intellectual edifice of an exact domain in the existing literature [ 9 , 13 ].

Minimal studies have used bibliometric analysis related to banks. For instance, Violeta and Gordana have employed bibliometric analysis to spot the trends of DEA application in banking [ 14 ]. Another study conducted by Ikra et al. applied the bibliometric method to Islamic banking efficiency [ 15 ]. By an extensive search on the Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar, no such study was found related to bibliometric analysis on banking performance to the economic growth. Nevertheless, this study will be the first attempt to conduct bibliometric methods on the banking performance to the economic growth that could be the basis for future studies.

The findings of this study unfolded several contributions to both policymakers, bank managers and academic researchers. Firstly, the findings would benefit the policymakers regarding the contribution and trends of banking performance. It would allow them to take necessary initiatives to promote and improve banking performance, thus economic development. Meanwhile, bank managers may utilise the findings to strengthen their banking operations by acknowledging key factors that contributed to the performance. Finally, academic researchers are enabled to detect the current trend and topics related to the banking area that leads to further studies.

Bibliometric analysis has achieved enormous popularity in social sciences research in the current years [ 9 , 16 , 17 , 18 ]. The popularity of bibliometric analysis is observed from the development, accessibility and availability of software, for instance, Leximancer, Gephi, VOSviewer, Biblioshiny and publication databases (Web of Science and Scopus). Further, the rapid growth of bibliometric analysis in scientific production has emerged from business research to information science [ 9 ]. The popularity of bibliometric methodology in social science research is not a trend but moderately an image of its usefulness for constructing high research impact by handling excessive scientific data [ 9 ].

The bibliometric analysis is beneficial for briefing the trends in the research documents classifying ‘blind spots’ and ‘hot spots’, and finding a more inclusive understanding of the published research documents [ 19 ]. In detail, this analysis empowers the recognition of the most advanced (hot spots) and the less established topics (blind spots) within the documents that, shared with other bibliometric procedures, recommend future research avenues. The bibliometric analysis uncovers several ascriptions, such as unveiling emerging trends in documents and the performance of journals, research constituents and collaboration patterns and discovering the intellectual edifice of an exact domain in the existing literature [ 13 , 18 ]. The data that apply in this analysis incline to be immense (hundreds, thousands) and unbiased in nature (publications and citations number, keywords occurrences and topics). However, its explanations often depend on both subjective (thematic analysis) and objective (performance analysis) assessments formed through well-versed techniques and procedures [ 9 ]. Therefore, this study applied bibliometric analysis to examine the general perspective on banking performance and economic growth.

Two categories are mainly manifest in the bibliometric techniques, namely, performance and science mapping. Precisely, research elements’ contributions are accounted for in the performance analysis, while the connections between research elements are focused on science mapping [ 9 ]. This study follows performance analysis, science mapping and network analysis suggested by Donthu et al. [ 9 ].

Data extraction process

Two primary databases, the Web of Science and the Scopus, are commonly used in the bibliometric analysis [ 20 ]. Both databases are prominent for the peer-reviewed published research articles. The data for this analysis were a collection of bibliographic data from the Web of Science. The Web of Science (WoS) is a multidisciplinary online database providing access to several citation databases, namely Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI), Conference Proceedings Citation Index, Index Chemicus and Current Chemical Reactions [ 18 , 21 ].

This study has applied a two-stage data extraction process, following Bretas and Alon, Alon et al. and Apriliyanti and Alon [ 16 , 22 , 23 ] as shown in Fig.  1 . The choice of the keywords is crucial to ensure that it covers the total body of published documents on banking performance and economic growth [ 21 ]. Accordingly, the selection of keywords was carried out by reviewing several abstracts and authors’ keywords in most related literature on the Web of Science. The selected keywords were executed in the WoS online database on 9 August 2021. A combination of keyword search terms was considered; (1) ‘banking performance*’ to nail all discrepancies of the term such as the role of the bank, bank efficiency, bank productivity, banking efficiency, banking productivity, banking performance, bank performance, upon refining the search by including only research articles from the categories; economics, business finance, business, management, operations research management, social sciences mathematical measures and documents written in English.

The second stage extracted raw data from the online database combined, checked for duplicate documents and merged using ‘R’. Further, the documents were filtered in the ‘biblioshiny’ tool to omit book chapters and conference proceedings. After the extraction process for the bibliometric analysis, several impactful documents were selected based on local and global citations to conduct content analysis. The content analysis allowed the researcher to identify the leading research scopes and trends. Further, it allows identifying the streams and recommendations for future studies [ 22 ]. A total of 36 documents were selected to conduct a comprehensive review and valuation of the documents.

Performance analysis

Performance analysis investigates the contributions of academic research elements to a particular discipline [ 24 ]. This analysis is naturally descriptive, which is the hallmark of bibliometric analysis [ 9 ]. It is a standard method in reviews to exhibit the performance of various research elements such as authors, countries, institutions and sources similar to the profile or background of respondents generally presented in empirical studies, albeit more statistically [ 9 , 18 ]. Many measures exist in the performance analysis; hence, the most protuberant measurements are publications number and citations per research constituent or year. The publication is considered productivity, whereby citation measures influence an impact [ 9 ]. Besides, citation per document and h -index associate both publications and citations with evaluating research performance [ 18 ].

Table 1 presents the publication’s performance of banking performance. The results show a total number of 1308 documents published from 1972 to the present. Among 2275 contributed authors, a total of 202 authors were solely, and 2106 authors collaborated to the publications. A total of 31,458 citations received by published documents lead to an average of 629.16 citations per year, while 775 in h -index and 1023 in g -index. Hence, the banking efficiency field acknowledged productivity of research published by an average of 26.16 documents per year whereby nearly two authors (CI = 1.9) published one article, and standardised collaboration is 0.43 (between 0 and 1).

The annual production of scientific publications on banking efficiency is presented in Fig.  2 . The first research article related to banking performance was published by Fraser and Rose [ 25 ], who studied the effect of new bank appearance in the market on bank performance. The annual growth of publications on banking performance or banking efficiency is recorded to 12.39%. The publications are significantly increasing in recent periods, especially from 2016 to the present. However, the mandated growth in publications is observed between 2004 and 2015, while earlier periods (1972–2003) were quite sluggish. In these consequences, academic researchers have started to focus on banking performance or banking efficiency in the recent period. As a result, it can be concluded that banking performance and its sphere are shaping upwards through the research contributions.

Annual Scientific production

Science mapping

Science mapping investigates the connections between research elements [ 26 ] that relates to the intellectual connections and structural networks within research constituents [ 9 ]. The science mapping includes citation analysis, bibliographic coupling, co-citation analysis, co-occurrence network, collaboration techniques. When combined with network analysis, these techniques are instrumental in exhibiting the research area’s bibliometric edifice and intellectual structure [ 27 ].

Citation analysis

The citation analysis is a fundamental approach for science mapping that runs on the assumption that citations reproduce intellectual contributions and impact the research horizons [ 28 ]. This analysis shows the impact of published documents by measuring the number of citations they received [ 9 ]. Accordingly, it enables the discovery of the most influential and informative documents in a research constituent. Thus, it allows gathering insights into that constituent’s intellectual dynamics [ 9 ]. Table 2 presents the top 20 impactful and influential documents in the field of banking performance or efficiency. The analysis has discovered that a total of 1112 documents (85%) out of 1308 documents received global citations. The global citations refer to the number of citations received in the overall Web of Science citations. However, 196 documents (about 15%) have not received any citation; meanwhile, 130 documents (about 10%) received only one citation. A document written by Berger An received the highest number (665) of citations which was published in 1997. The second most influential document was written by Seiford [51] received a total of 549 citations, followed by the document written by Back (2013) received 512 citations. In fact, a total of four documents written by Berger An rank in the top 20 impactful research articles in the field of banking performance or efficiency.

Factually, the majority of the documents without citations was published in a recent period. At the same time, the highly cited documents were published quite earlier. To detect the immediate influence of more recent documents is to apply the measurement of an average citation per year [ 29 ]. By evaluating the average citations per year, nine out of ten documents are also among the top 10 documents. Perpetually, Beck [45] holds the highest number of average citations per year (56.89), followed by Berger An (2013) ranked second position (51.44) and Beltratti A (2012) ranked the following position (48.40). Based on the citation analysis, it can be elucidated that Berger An is the most influential author in the banking efficiency research constituent.

Co-occurrence analysis

Co-occurrence analysis was projected by Callon et al. [ 30 ], considered as content analysis that is useful in plotting the strength of connotation within keywords in textual data. In other words, co-occurrence analysis is an approach that investigates the actual content of the document itself [ 9 ]. It maps the pertinent literature straight from the associations of keywords shared by research articles [ 24 , 27 , 31 , 32 ]. The co-occurrence analysis deduces words to appear recurrently in a cluster. It exhibits conceptual or semantic groups of various topics or sub-topics considered by research constituents [ 9 , 24 ]. Cobo and Herrera signified that spotted clusters could be applied with few objectives [ 24 ]. For instance, they can be applied to analyse their progression by gauging extension across successive subperiods and measuring the research area through performance analysis. Figure  3 displays the co-occurrence of keywords within the bank efficiency research constituent. As the focus of this research, bank performance represents the larger node associated with corporate governance, financial performance, financial crisis, nonperforming loans and others. In these scenarios, the red-coloured cluster depicts that these subtopics or variables are directly associated related to the bank performance theme due to repetitive co-occurrence of those words. Likewise, the green-coloured cluster represents a theme related to bank efficiency associated with performance and ownership. In the same cluster, the nonparametric data envelopment analysis is extensively used to measure commercial banks' technical and cost efficiency and productivity. Parametric stochastic frontier analysis is narrowly observed in efficiency measurements comparably. The green-coloured cluster depicts the determinants of bank profitability including other impactful variables such as risk, competition, corporate governance. This cluster applied panel data in order to examine performance, financial development as well as economic growth. Each of the cluster identifies the interacted themes used in the published documents using co-occurrence of keywords.

Co-occurrence of keywords, Tool: VOSviewer. Note the nodes represent the keywords, and the edges between words present their occurrence of interactions. Each colour of nodes represents a cluster/theme. The size of the node presents a greater frequency of occurrence

Collaboration networks

Collaboration analysis explores the associations within researchers in a particular constituent. It is a formal way of intellectual association among researchers [ 33 , 34 ]. Therefore, it is crucial to understand how researchers associate among themselves [ 9 ]. In the presence of growing theoretical and methodological complexity in research, intellectual networking (collaboration) has become commonplace [ 33 ]. Indeed, collaboration or interaction among researchers enables improvements in academic research; for instance, greater interactions among diverse researchers allow richer insights and greater clarity [ 35 ]. Researchers who collaborate form a network named ‘invisible collages’ whose research can help improve undertakings in the study field [ 36 ]. Figure  4 presents the collaboration network of authors those co-authored academic articles in banking efficiency. Based on the collaboration network, Wanke P (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro) was the most collaborated author who co-authored with four authors from different institutions in different countries. At the same time, Matousek, R (University Kent), Hasan, I (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) and Mamatzakis, E (University of Sussex), have also exhibited as greater collaborative researchers. In these consequences, authors from different institutions and from different parts of the world are collaborating to the banking performance/efficiency field.

Source : VOSviewer. Note the nodes represent the authors, and the size represents the frequency of contribution, the colour presents a cluster or a particular group, and the link shows the link among authors that collaborated for research articles

Authors’ collaboration networks.

Bibliographic coupling

Co-authorship or collaborative networks within the authors and other crucial facets in the collaboration networks are the collaboration of author-affiliated countries and institutions [ 31 ]. Figure  5 exhibits the collaboration network within authors’ affiliated organisations. University Malaya and University Utara Malaysia, University Malaya and University Putra Malaysia, University Malaya and University Fed Rio de Janeiro all depict a strong collaboration network. In general, all the institutions display an embellishment among the institutions within the same region.

Source : VOSviewer

Bibliographic coupling of author-affiliated institutions.

Similar to co-authors’ affiliated institutions, the collaboration of authors’ country presents a steady association among authors’ connections that allow exploring comparative and concurrent research works. Figure  6 represents the network of collaborative authors’ affiliation countries. These countries include South Africa and the USA, England and the USA, Australia and the USA, Malaysia and the USA, Germany and the USA, representing a high proportion of authors’ affiliated institutions are in the USA with this country performing as a hub of co-authorship publications from 1972 to 2021.

Collaborative authors’ affiliated countries

This study discusses trending themes based on the bibliometric findings and reviews of highly cited and most recent documents (see Appendix 1 ). It also indicated the type of study, theories, methods and main findings to suggest comprehensive future studies.

Research directions

Between 1991 and 2010, studies related to banking performance have posited several antecedents to banking performance. Figure  7 displays the trend topics based on author keywords that appeared between 1972 and 2010. Studies in this period mainly focused on mergers and acquisitions, information technology and transition economies that emerged from universal banking deregulation and bank privatisation. The financial crisis during 2008–2009 drew the attention of scholars to evaluate the banking performance. Idiosyncratically, this phenomenon has been acknowledged by researchers from 2010 to 2015, focusing on the role of corporate governance in the performance of the banking industry, including compensation, risk management, determinants of stock returns, capital buffer, productivity. Idiosyncratically, a vast of studies were conducted on Chinese commercial banks and the effect on their economic growth.

Source : Biblioshiny analysis. Note the frequency of terms selected 3 times for 1972–2010, 5 times for 2011–2015, 10 times for 2016–2021

Trend topics in different periods.

In the recent period (2016–2021), diverse factors posited in the studies that dominantly present a significant interest from banking scholars. While studies earlier mainly focusing on efficiency and its contributing factors, recent periods extended research directions to multiple constituents. For example, how banks diversified their services and the role of human capital efficiency to the banking performance [ 37 ]. Bose et al. employed the effect of green banking on the performance that underpins the inclusion of the environmental sustainability approach by the banking industry [ 38 ]. Meanwhile, Bhattacharyya et al. showed the effect of CSR expenditures and financial inclusion on the performance that define the social sustainability indicator of the banks [ 39 ]. Repeatedly, the role and structure of the board, categorisation of deposits and loans, risk exposures (business cycle), macroeconomic factors were also acknowledged in recent banking performance studies [ 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 ]. Idiosyncratically, scholars recently focus the components of sustainability of the banking industry from economic, environmental and social aspects [ 44 ]. Furthermore, the effect of banking and its stability on economic growth has been broadly carried out in the recent period. Moreover, the development of studies was taken into account, which implies the contribution to the economic growth of particular regions. Based on the earlier and recent studies, it is precisely observed the diversification of research constituents in relation to bank performance studies. Earlier studies (up to 2015) mainly measured banking performance or efficiency based on accounting measurements, while recent studies started to include market measurements principally based on stock returns performance. On the other hand, the rise of Islamic banking and finance influenced academic researchers to compare the business models [ 45 ], banking efficiencies [ 46 ] between conventional and Islamic banks, and efficiency for Islamic banks [ 5 ].

Based on the review of impactful documents published from 1990 to 2010, two particular objectives were identified: the effect of the board of directors or ownership on the bank performance [ 47 , 48 , 49 ] and measurement of efficiency, including cost and profit efficiency [ 50 , 51 , 52 ]. These constituents extended during 2011–2020 by the inclusion of risk-taking management [ 53 ], CEO incentives [ 54 ], contributing factors including capital, banking crises on banking performance [ 42 , 55 , 56 , 57 ]. Meanwhile, the Islamic banking system got crucial attention from academic researchers. Accordingly, several studies evaluated and compared efficiency between Islamic and conventional banks [ 45 , 58 , 59 ]. Nevertheless, the role of the banking industry in economic growth was included in the research constituents in the recent decade. For example, Xu, Santana and a few more scholars investigated the correlation between financial intermediation and economic growth [ 57 , 60 , 61 ]. In recent years, scholars extended the banking-related research constituents to diverse areas. The effect of human capital efficiency [ 37 ], green banking [ 38 ], CSR expenditures [ 39 ] and bank stability was included to measure banking performance. These extensions of research themes within banking performance studies posited a significant interest by academic researchers.

Apparently, almost all documents adopted the quantitative method in measuring banking performance research constituents. However, studies that measured banking efficiency mainly applied nonparametric analysis DEA [ 5 , 51 ], while SFA was adopted by limited studies [ 37 , 42 , 43 ]. On the other hand, regression analysis was predominantly applied to investigate banking performance from 1990 to 2010 [ 49 , 50 ]. In recent studies, academic researchers have vastly adopted GMM (generalised method of moments) to examine the contributing factors on banking performance [ 39 , 42 , 57 , 60 ]. These methods are dominating the banking-related studies throughout the publication periods. Over the periods, scholars have developed DEA applications in several categories, such as bootstrap, networking. Meanwhile, GMM with different approach (dynamic and system) techniques exploited panel data primarily extracted from Bankscope, Datastream, annual reports etc.

Main findings

Earlier, banking inefficiencies were substantially observed low, negatively affecting profitability and marketability [ 50 , 51 ]. This trend was continuously depicted in studies [ 52 ]. However, Berger et al. evidenced better efficiency for larger banks than smaller banks [ 50 ]. On the contrary, Seiford and Zhu posited an adverse effect of bank size on marketability [ 51 ]. More so, Rehman et al. found larger banks are less efficient than smaller banks [ 40 ]. Hence, Moudud-Ul-Huq posited diverse impacts of bank size and competition on performance [ 62 ]. So, banking size is deemed to have a substantial effect on the overall performance of banks. However, Adesina embellished that diversification of services and choices of management decisions on loans (nonperforming, debt issuances) [ 63 , 64 ] and deposits [ 41 ] affect the banking performance [ 37 ]. Moreover, board structure affects banking performance [ 40 , 65 ], while higher human capital efficiency enhances banking performance [ 37 ].

Generally, foreign-owned banks provide better service, greater profitability and are better efficient than local banks. This phenomenon was evidenced in several studies; for example, Bonin et al. and other scholars demonstrated that foreign-owned banks are more cost-efficient than other banks [ 48 ]. However, this trend did not exist for Islamic banks as local banks showed better efficiency than foreign peers [ 58 ] and more efficient than conventional [ 59 ]. Meanwhile, state-owned or government-owned commercial banks were less efficient and provided poorer services [ 48 , 49 , 52 ]. But these banks’ efficiency was higher than urban/rural banks during credit risk shock [ 41 ]. Nevertheless, banking efficiency and performance substantially depend on diversification of services, managerial adequacy, ownership, types and size.

Studies have evidenced financial development and thus the banking industry’s role in economic growth [ 60 ]. In the nineteenth century, the establishment of the savings bank demonstrated city growth in Prussia [ 66 ]. Potentially, banks provide investment capital to increase per capita GDP [ 43 ]. However, Haini documented a contrasting effect of banking development on economic growth through a push out of private investment due to high levels of the banking sector [ 67 ]. However, Stewart and Chowdhury proved that a stable banking sector lessens the negative impact of a crisis on GDP growth and provides economic resilience in both developed and developing countries. Overall, findings elaborated a crucial link between banking sector development and economic growth.

Future study suggestions

This study has recommended several scopes for future studies in the hybrid review, mainly through bibliometric findings and the structured review of impactful articles [ 11 ]. In other words, the recommendations for future studies are made by observing and analysing discussions on highly cited and recent cited documents. Overall findings and analyses raised several questions that need to be addressed for future studies.

Firstly, does the banking sector improve economic growth in the least developed countries? Prior studies mainly focused on developed and developing economies, but less attention was given to least developed countries. Secondly, vast studies investigated contributing factors of banking performance, while political instability has been ignored. Future studies might include political instability on the banking performance. Apart from it, nonperforming loans can be another addition to future studies, and even few studies documented it. Thirdly, how do banks perform during the pandemic crisis, for instance, COVID-19? The current pandemic crisis can be a significant factor in banking performance related to future studies, including efficiency, mortgages, loan recovery, deposits and business services. The studies can include consumer behaviour (due to restricted movements, safety measurements), green banking (online transaction and services), financial technologies (inclusion of nonbanking services) and the contribution or continuance of economic activities in the country during and after the pandemic crisis.

Significantly, prior studies have ignored the current trend of FinTech inclusion in banking performance. Fourthly, will FinTech takeover the banking services and diminish banks in the near future? Future studies may investigate the effect of FinTech applications on banking. More so, future studies may explore the banking industry’s barriers, challenges and threats due to FinTech growth. Fifthly, almost all studies employed quantitative analysis related to banking performance. Therefore, future studies may use qualitative methods to explore the opportunities and practices of banks and their performance. Sixthly, the majority of the studies either applied parametric or econometric techniques to investigate the bank performance. Recent developments in technologies and methods may provide easy and robust results in such related studies as using machine learning for data analysis and predicting banking efficiency and productivity determinants. Seventhly, past studies mostly followed the intermediation approach, which scarcely included production and operating approach measurement. Future studies may extend the efficiency analysis using productivity growth analysis. Further, the majority of the studies observed efficiency only. Future studies can include a productivity change index along with an efficiency analysis. Finally, GMM and regression were broadly applied to investigate the effect of antecedents of banking performance and link to economic growth. Future studies may adopt other advanced data analysis techniques such as partial least squares, structural equations and other econometric techniques.

Conclusions

The main purpose of this study is to explore the trends and research activities in banking performance and the economic growth research domain. To achieve this objective, a bibliometric analysis was applied and performed several analyses, namely citation, co-occurrence of keywords, the collaboration between authors and coupling between institutions and countries, and discussion by reviewing most cited and most recent influential research articles. This study presents the most common themes, sub-themes associated with highly cited documents and authors; furthermore, the content analysis identified the research directions, research objectives, methodologies, topics and findings.

Based on the reviewing literature, the efficiency theory, banking theory mainly intermediation approach and nonparametric technique, namely data envelopment analysis along with econometric method, regression was used in the published documents. The findings of this study, along with future study suggestions, could be beneficial to bankers as well as academic researchers and students studying banking performance and its role in the economy.

Limitations

The most crucial limitation in any bibliometric analysis is the database selection. It means selecting the data and the limits of its interpretation [ 68 ]. This study has three key limitations; firstly, it has chosen ‘Web of Science’, one of the largest online databases to gather data on banking performance research articles from 1972 to 2021 and refined based on subject categories and language (English). The database could be improved if other databases were included and also if book chapters and conference proceedings were added. Secondly, the selection of keywords; although selected keywords are deemed to be most relevant to encompass the majority of articles related to banking performance, there is always an opportunity to search further articles by using additional keywords. Lastly, this study could not conduct co-citation analysis due to the unavailability of cited documents in Web of Science data format.

Availability of data and materials

The data collected from the Web of Science online database were saved on Microsoft excel and remained with authors. The data are available upon request.

Abbreviations

Data envelopment analysis

Generalized method of moments

• Web of Science

Collaboration index

Chief executive officer

Corporate social responsibility

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Alam, S.M.S., Chowdhury, M.A.M. & Razak, D.B.A. Research evolution in banking performance: a bibliometric analysis. Futur Bus J 7 , 66 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s43093-021-00111-7

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Utilization of artificial intelligence in the banking sector: a systematic literature review

• Original Article
• Published: 11 August 2022
• Volume 28 , pages 835–852, ( 2023 )

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• Omar H. Fares   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0950-0661 1 ,
• Irfan Butt 1 &
• Seung Hwan Mark Lee 1  

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This study provides a holistic and systematic review of the literature on the utilization of artificial intelligence (AI) in the banking sector since 2005. In this study, the authors examined 44 articles through a systematic literature review approach and conducted a thematic and content analysis on them. This review identifies research themes demonstrating the utilization of AI in banking, develops and classifies sub-themes of past research, and uses thematic findings coupled with prior research to propose an AI banking service framework that bridges the gap between academic research and industry knowledge. The findings demonstrate how the literature on AI and banking extends to three key areas of research: Strategy, Process, and Customer. These findings may benefit marketers and decision-makers in the banking sector to formulate strategic decisions regarding the utilization and optimization of value from AI technologies in the banking sector. This study also provides opportunities for future research.

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Introduction

Digital innovations in the modern banking landscape are no longer discretionary for financial institutions; instead, they are becoming necessary for financial institutions to cope with an increasingly competitive market and changing customer expectations (De Oliveira Santini, 2018 ; Eren, 2021 ; Hua et al., 2019 ; Rajaobelina and Ricard, 2021 ; Valsamidis et al., 2020 ; Yang, 2009 ). In the era of modern banking, many new digital technologies have been driven by artificial intelligence (AI) as the key engine (Dobrescu and Dobrescu, 2018 ), leading to innovative disruptions of banking channels (e.g., automated teller machines, online banking, mobile banking), services (e.g., imaging of checks, voice recognition, chatbots), and solutions (e.g., AI investment advisors and AI credit selectors).

The application of AI in banking is across the board, with uses in the front office (voice assistants and biometrics), middle office (anti-fraud risk monitoring and complex legal and compliance workflows), and back office (credit underwriting with smart contracts infrastructure). Banks are expected to save $447 billion by 2023, by employing AI applications. Almost 80% of the banks in the USA are cognizant of the potential benefits offered by AI (Digalaki, 2022 ). Indeed, the emergence of AI has generated a wealth of opportunities and challenges (Malali and Gopalakrishnan, 2020 ). In the banking context, the use of AI has led to more seamless sales and has guided the development of effective customer relationship management systems (Tarafdar et al., 2019 ). While the focus in the past was on the automation of credit scoring, analyses, and the grants process (Mehrotra, 2019 ), capabilities evolved to support internal systems and processes as well (Caron, 2019 ).

The term AI was first used in 1956 by John McCarthy (McCarthy et al., 1956 ); it refers to systems that act and think like humans in a rational way (Kok et al., 2009 ). In the aftermath of the dot com bubble in 2000, the field of AI shifted toward Web 2.0. era in 2005, and the growth of data and availability of information encouraged more research in AI and its potential (Larson, 2021 ). More recently, technological advancements have opened the doors for AI to facilitate enterprise cognitive computing, which involves embedding algorithms into applications to support organizational processes (Tarafdar et al., 2019 ). This includes improving the speed of information analysis, obtaining more accurate and reliable data outputs, and allowing employees to perform high-level tasks. In recent years, AI-based technologies have been shown to be effective and practical. However, many corporate executives still lack knowledge regarding the strategic utilization of AI in their organizations. For instance, Ransbotham et al. ( 2017 ) found that 85% of business executives viewed AI as a key tool for providing businesses with a sustainable competitive advantage; however, only 39% had a strategic plan for the use of AI, due to the lack of knowledge regarding implementation of AI for their organizations.

Here, we systematically analyze the past and current state of AI and banking literature to understand how it has been utilized within the banking sector historically, propose a service framework, and provide clear future research opportunities. In the past, a limited number of systematic literature reviews have studied AI within the management discipline (e.g., Bavaresco et al., 2020 ; Borges et al., 2020 ; Loureiro et al., 2020 ; Verma et al., 2021 ). However, the current literature lacks either research scope and depth, and/or industry focus. In response, we seek to differentiate our study from prior reviews by providing a specific focus on the banking sector and a more comprehensive analysis involving multiple modes of analysis.

In light of this, we aim to address the following research questions:

What are the themes and sub-themes that emerge from prior literature regarding the utilization of AI in the banking industry?

How does AI impact the customer's journey process in the banking sector, from customer acquisition to service delivery?

What are the current research deficits and future directions of research in this field?

Methodology

Selection of articles.

Adhering to the best practices for conducting a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) (see Khan et al., 2003 ; Tranfield et al, 2003 ; Xiao and Watson, 2019 ), we began by selecting the appropriate database and identifying keywords, based on an in-depth review of the literature. Research papers were extracted from Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus. These databases were selected to complement one another and provide access to scholarly articles (Mongeon and Paul-Hus, 2016 ); this was also the first step in ensuring the inclusion of high-quality articles (Harzing and Alakangas, 2016 ). The following query was used to search the title, abstract, and keywords: “Artificial intelligence OR machine learning OR deep learning OR neural networks OR Intelligent systems AND Bank AND consumer OR customer OR user.” The keywords were selected, based on prior literature review, with the goal of covering various business functions, especially focusing on the banking sector (Loureiro et al., 2020 ; Verma et al., 2021 ; Borges et al., 2020 ; Bavaresco et al., 2020 ). The initial search criteria yielded 11,684 papers. These papers were then filtered by “English,” “article only” publications, and using the subject area filter of “Management, Business Finance, accounting and Business,” which resulted in 626 papers.

In this study, we used the preferred reporting method for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) to ensure that we follow the systematic approach and track the flow of data across different stages of the SLR (Moher et al., 2009 ). After extracting the articles, each of the 626 papers was given a distinctive ID number to help differentiate the papers; the ID number was maintained throughout the analysis process. The data were then organized using the following columns: “ID number,” “database source,” “Author,” “title,” “Abstract,” “keywords,” “Year,” Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) Journals, “and keyword validation columns.”

The exclusion of papers was done systematically in the following manner: a) All duplicate papers in the database were eliminated (105 duplicates); b) as a second quality check, papers not published in ABDC journals (163 papers) were omitted to ensure a quality standard for inclusion in the review,Query a practice consistent with other recent SLRs (Goyal and Kumar, 2021 ; Nusair et al., 2019 ; Pahlevan-Sharif et al., 2019 ); c) in order to ensure the relevance of articles included, and following our research objectives, we excluded non-consumer-related papers, searching for consumers (consumer, customer, user) in the title, abstract, and keywords; this resulted in the removal of 314 papers; d) for the remaining 48 papers, a relevance check was manually conducted to determine whether the papers were indeed related to AI and banking. Papers that specifically focused on the technical computational process of AI were removed (4 papers). This process resulted in the selection of 44 articles for subsequent analyses.

Thematic analysis

A thematic analysis classifies the topics and subtopics being researched. It is a method for identifying, analyzing, and reporting patterns within data (Boyatzis, 1998 ). We followed Chatha and Butt ( 2015 ) to classify the articles into themes and sub-themes using manual coding. Second, we employed the Leximancer software to supplement the manual classification process. The use of these two approaches provides additional validity and quality to the research findings.

Leximancer is a text-mining software that provides conceptual and relational information by identifying concept occurrences and co-occurrences (Leximancer, 2019 ). After uploading all the 44 papers onto Leximancer, we added “English” to the stoplist, which removed words such as “or/and/like” that are not relevant to developing themes. We manually removed irrelevant filler words, such as “pp.,” “Figure,” and “re.” Finally, our results consisted of two maps: a) a conceptual map wherein central themes and concepts are identified, and b) a relational cloud map where a network of connections and relationships are drawn among concepts.

Thematic map

RQ 1: What are the themes and sub-themes that emerge from prior literature regarding the utilization of AI in the banking industry?

We began with a deductive approach to categorize articles into predetermined themes for the theme identification process. We then employed an inductive approach to identify the sub-themes and provide context for the primary themes (See Fig. 1 ). The procedure for determining the primary themes included, a) reviewing previous related systematic literature reviews (Bavaresco et al., 2020 ; Borges et al., 2020 ; Loureiro et al., 2020 ; Verma et al., 2021 ), b) identifying keywords and developing codes (themes) from selected papers; and c) reviewing titles, abstracts, and full papers, if needed, to identify appropriate allocation within these themes. Three primary themes were curated from the process: Strategy, Processes, and Customers (see Fig.  2 ).

Themes by timeline

In the Strategy theme (21 papers), early research shows the potential uses and adoption of AI from an organizational perspective (e.g., Akkoç, 2012 ; Olson et al., 2012 ; Smeureanu et al., 2013 ). Data mining (an essential part of AI) has been used to predict bankruptcy (Olson et al., 2012 ) and to optimize risk models (Akkoç, 2012 ). The increasing use of AI-driven tools to drive organizational effectiveness creates greater business efficiency opportunities for financial institutions, as compared to traditional modes of strategizing and risk model development. The sub-theme Organizational use of AI (14 papers) covers a range of current activities wherein banks use AI to drive organizational value. These organizational uses include the use of AI to drive business strategies and internal business activities. Medhi and Mondal ( 2016 ) highlighted the use of an AI-driven model to predict outsourcing success. Our findings indicate the effectiveness of AI tools in driving efficient organizational strategies; however, there remain several challenges in implementing AI technologies, including the human resources aspect and the organizational culture to allow for such efficiencies (Fountain et al., 2019 ). More recently, there has been a noticeable focus on discussing some of the challenges associated with AI implementation in banking institutions (e.g., Jakšič and Marinč, 2019 ; Mohapatra, 2020 ). The sub-theme Challenges with AI (three papers) covers a range of challenges that organizations face, including the integration of AI in their organizations. Mohapatra ( 2020 ) characterizes some of the key challenges related to human–machine interactions to allow for the sustainable implementation of AI in banking. While much of the current research has focused on technology, our findings indicate that one of the main areas of opportunity in the future is related to adoption and integration. The sub-theme AI and adoption in financial institutions (six papers) covered a range of topics regarding motivation, and barriers to the adoption of AI technology from an organizational standpoint. Fountain et al. ( 2019 ) conceptually highlighted some barriers to organizational adoption, including workers’ fear, company culture, and budget constraints. Overall, in the Strategy theme, organizational uses of AI seemed to be the most prominent, which highlights the consistent focus on technology development compared with technology implementation. However, the literature remains limited in terms of discussions related to the organizational challenges associated with AI implementation.

In the Processes theme (34 papers), after the dot com bubble and with the emergence of Web 2.0, research on AI in the banking sector started to emerge. This could have been triggered by the suggested use of AI to predict stock market movements and stock selection (Kim and Lee, 2004 ; Tseng, 2003 ). At this stage, the literature on AI in the banking sector was related to its use in credit and loan analysis (Baesens et al., 2005 ; Ince and Aktan, 2009 ; Kao et al., 2012 ; Khandani et al., 2010 ). In the early stages of AI implementation, it is essential to develop fast and reliable AI infrastructure (Larson, 2021 ). Baesens et al. ( 2005 ) utilized a neural network approach to better predict loan defaults and early repayments. Ince and Aktan ( 2009 ) used a data mining technique to analyze credit scores and found that the AI-driven data mining approach was more effective than traditional methods. Similarly, Khandani et al. ( 2010 ) found machine-learning-driven models to be effective in analyzing consumer credit risk. The sub-theme, AI and credit (15 papers), covers the use of AI technology, such as machine learning and data mining, to improve credit scoring, analysis, and granting processes. For instance, Alborzi and Khanbabaei ( 2016 ) examined the use of data mining neural network techniques to develop a customer credit scoring model. Post-2013, there has been a noticeable increase in investigating how AI improves processes that go beyond credit analysis. The sub-theme AI and services (20 papers) covers the uses of AI for process improvement and enhancement. These process-related uses of technology include institutional uses of technology to improve internal service processes. For example, Soltani et al. ( 2019 ) examined the use of machine learning to optimize appointment scheduling time, and reduce service time. Overall, regarding the process theme, our findings highlight the usefulness of AI in improving banking processes; however, there remains a gap in practical research regarding the applied integration of technology in the banking system. In addition, while there is an abundance of research on credit risk, the exploration of other financial products remains limited.

In the Customer theme (26 papers), we uncovered the increasing use of AI as a methodological tool to better understand customer adoption of digital banking services. The sub-theme AI and Customer adoption (11 papers) covers the use of AI as a methodological tool to investigate customers’ adoption of digital banking technologies, including both barriers and motivational factors. For example, Arif et al. ( 2020 ) used a neural network approach to investigate barriers to internet-banking adoption by customers. Belanche et al. ( 2019 ) investigate factors related to AI-driven technology adoption in the banking sector. Payne et al. ( 2018 ) examine the drivers of the usage of AI-enabled mobile banking services. In addition, bank marketers have found an opportunity to use AI to better segment, target, and position their banking products and services. The sub-theme, AI and marketing (nine papers), covers the use of AI for different marketing activities, including customer segmentation, development of marketing models, and delivery of more effective marketing campaigns. For example, Smeureanu et al. ( 2013 ) proposed a machine learning technique to segment banking customers. Schwartz et al. ( 2017 ) utilized an AI-based method to examine the resource allocation in targeted advertisements. In recent years, there has been a noticeable trend in investigating how AI shapes customer experience (Soltani et al., 2019 ; Trivedi, 2019 ). The sub-theme of AI and customer experience (Papers 11) covers the use of AI to enhance banking experience and services for customers. For example, Trivedi ( 2019 ) investigated the use of chatbots in banking and their impact on customer experience.

Table 1 highlights the number of papers included in the themes and sub-themes. Overall, the papers related to Processes (77%) were the most frequently occurring, followed by Customer (59%) and Strategy-based (48%) papers. From 2013 onward, there was an increase in the inter-relation between all three areas of Strategy, Processes, and Customers. Since 2016, there has been a surge in research linking the themes of Processes and Customers. More recently, since 2017, papers combining Customers with Strategy have become more frequent.

Leximancer analysis

A Leximancer analysis was conducted on all the papers included in the study. This resulted in two major classifications and 56 distinct concepts. Here, a “concept” refers to a combination of closely related words. When referring to “concept co-occurrence,” we refer to the total number of times two concepts appear together. In comparison, the word association percentage refers to the conditional probability that two concepts will appear side-by-side.

Conceptual and relational analyses

Conceptual analysis refers to the analysis of data based on word frequency and word occurrence, whereas relational analysis refers to the analysis that draws connections between concepts and captures the co-occurrences between words (Leximancer, 2019 ). As Fig.  3 shows, the most prominent concept is “customer,” which provides additional credence to our customer theme. The concept “customer” appeared 2,231 times across all papers. For the concept “customer,” some of the key concept associations include satisfaction (324 co-occurrences and 64% word association), service (185 co-occurrences and 43% word association), and marketing (86 co-occurrences and 42% word association). This may imply the importance of utilizing AI in improving customer service and satisfaction, and in marketing to retain and grow the customer base. For instance, Trivedi ( 2019 ) examined the factors affecting chatbot satisfaction and found that information, system, and service quality, all have a significant positive association with it. Ekinci et al. ( 2014 ) proposed a customer lifetime value model, supported by a deep learning approach, to highlight key indicators in the banking sector. Xu et al. ( 2020 ) examined the effects of AI versus human customer service, and found that customers are more likely to use AI for low-complexity tasks, whereas a human agent is preferred for high-complexity tasks. It is worth noting that most of the research related to the customer theme has utilized a quantitative approach, with limited qualitative papers (i.e., four papers) in recent years.

Concept map of content of all papers included in the study

Not surprisingly, the second most prominent concept is “banking,” which is expected as it is the sector that we are examining. The concept “banking” appeared 1,033 times across all the papers. In the “banking” concept, some of the key concept associations include mobile (248 co-occurrences and 88% word association), internet (152 co-occurrences and 82% word association), adoption (220 co-occurrences and 50% word association), and acceptance (71 co-occurrences and 42% word association). This implies the importance of utilizing AI in mobile- and internet-banking research, along with inquiries related to the adoption and acceptance of AI for such uses. Belanche et al. ( 2019 ) proposed a research framework to provide a deeper understanding of the factors driving AI-driven technology adoption in the banking sector. Payne et al. ( 2018 ) examined digital natives' comfort and attitudes toward AI-enabled mobile banking activities and found that the need for services, attitude toward AI, relative advantage, and trust had a significant positive association with the usage of AI-enabled mobile banking services.

Figure  4 highlights the concept associations and draws connections between concepts. The identification and classification of themes and sub-themes using the deductive method in thematic analysis, and the automated approach using Leximancer, provide a reliable and detailed overview of the prior literature.

Cloud map of content of all papers included in the study

Customer credit solution application-service blueprint

RQ 2: How does AI impact the banking customer’s journey?

A service blueprint is a method that conceptualizes the customer journey while providing a framework for the front/back-end and support processes (Shostack, 1982 ). For a service blueprint to be effective, the core focus should be on the customer, and steps should be developed based on data and expertise (Bitner et al., 2008 ). As previously discussed, one of the key research areas, AI and banking, relates to credit applications and granting decisions; these are processes that directly impact customer accessibility and acquisition. Here, we develop and propose a Customer Credit Solution Application-Service Blueprint (CCSA) based on our earlier analyses.

Not only was the proposed design developed but the future research direction was also extracted from the articles included in this study. We also validated the framework through direct consultation with banking industry professionals. The CCSA model allows marketers, researchers, and banking professionals to gain a deeper understanding of the customer journey, understand the role of AI, provide an overview of future research directions, and highlight the potential for future growth in this field. As seen in Fig.  5 , we divided the service blueprint into four distinct segments: customer journey, front-stage, back-stage, and support processes. The customer journey is the first step in building a customer-centric blueprint, wherein we highlight the steps taken by customers to apply for a credit solution. The front-stage refers to how the customer interacts with a banking touchpoint (e.g., chatbots). Back-stage actions provide support to customer-facing front-stage actions. Support processes aid in internal organizational interactions and back-stage actions. This section lays out the steps for applying for credit solutions online and showcases the integration and use of AI in the process, with examples from the literature.

Customer credit solution application journey

Acquire customer

We begin from the initial step of customer acquisition, and proceed to credit decision, and post-decision (Broby, 2021 ). In the acquisition step, customers are targeted with the goal of landing them on the website and converting them to active customers. The front-stage includes targeted ads , where customers are exposed to ads that are tailored for them. For instance, Schwartz et al. ( 2017 ) utilized a multi-armed bandit approach for a large retail bank to improve customer acquisition, and proposed a method that allows bank marketers to maintain the balance between learning from advertisement data and optimizing advertisement investment. At this stage, the support processes focus on integrating AI as a methodological tool to better understand customers' banking adoption behaviors, in combination with utilizing machine learning to evaluate and update segmentation activities. The building block at this stage, is understanding the factors of online adoption. Sharma et al. ( 2017 ) used the neural network approach to investigate the factors influencing mobile banking adoption. Payne et al. ( 2018 ) examined digital natives' comfort and attitudes toward AI-enabled mobile banking activities. Markinos and Daskalaki ( 2017 ) used machine learning to classify bank customers based on their behavior toward advertisements.

Visit bank’s website & apply for a credit solution

At this stage, banking institutions aim to convert website traffic to credit solution applicants. The integration of robo-advisors will help customers select a credit solution that they can best qualify for, and which meets their banking needs. The availability of a robo-advisor can enhance the service offering, as it can help customers with the appropriate solution after gathering basic personal financial data and validating it instantly with credit reporting agencies. Trivedi ( 2019 ) found that information, system, and service quality are key to ensuring a seamless customer experience with the chatbot, with personalization moderating the constructs. Robo-advisors have task-oriented features (e.g., checking bank accounts) coupled with problem-solving features (e.g., processing credit applications). Following this, the data collected will be consistently examined through the use of machine learning to improve the offering and enhance customer experience. Jagtiani and Lemieux ( 2019 ) used machine learning to optimize data collected through different channels, which helps arrive at appropriate and inclusive credit recommendations. It is important to note that while the proposed process provides immense value to customers and banking institutions, many customers are hesitant to share their information; thus, trust in the banking institution is key to enhancing customer experience.

Receive a decision

After the data have been collected through the online channel, data mining and machine learning will aid in the analysis and provide optimal credit decisions. At this stage, the customer receives a credit decision through the robo-advisor. The traditional approaches for credit decisions usually take up to two weeks, as the application goes to the advisory network, then to the underwriting stage, and finally back to the customer. However, with the integration of AI, the customer can save time and be better informed by receiving an instant credit decision, allowing an increased sense of empowerment and control. The process of arriving at such decisions should provide a balance between managing organizational risk, maximizing profit, and increasing financial inclusion. For instance, Khandani et al. ( 2010 ) utilized machine learning techniques to build a model predicting customers' credit risk. Koutanaei et al. ( 2015 ) proposed a data mining model to provide more confidence in credit scoring systems. From an organizational risk standpoint, Mall ( 2018 ) used a neural network approach to examine the behavior of defaulting customers, so as to minimize credit risk, and increase profitability for credit-providing institutions.

Customer contact call center

At this stage, we outline the relationship between humans and AI. As Xu et al. ( 2020 ) found that customers prefer humans for high-complexity tasks, the integration of human employees for cases that require manual review is vital, as AI can make errors or misevaluate one of the C's of credit (Baiden, 2011 ). While AI provides a wealth of benefits for customers and organizations, we refer to Jakšič and Marinč's ( 2019 ) discussion that relationship banking still plays a key role in providing a competitive advantage for financial institutions. The integration of AI at this stage can be achieved by optimizing banking channels. For instance, banking institutions can optimize appointment scheduling time and reduce service time through the use of machine learning, as proposed by Soltani et al. ( 2019 ).

General discussion

Researchers have recognized the viable use of AI to provide enhanced customer service. As discussed in the CCSA service advice, facilities, such as robo-advisors, can aid in product selection, application for banking solutions, and time-saving in low-complexity tasks. As AI has been shown to be an effective tool for automating banking processes, improving customer satisfaction, and increasing profitability, the field has further evolved to examine issues pertaining to strategic insights. Recent research has been focused on investigating the use of AI to drive business strategies. For instance, researchers have examined the use of AI to simplify internal audit reports and evaluate strategic initiatives (Jindal, 2020 ; Muñoz-Izquierdo et al., 2019 ). The latest research also highlights the challenges associated with AI, whether from the perspective of implementation, culture, or organizational resistance (Fountain et al., 2019 ). Moreover, one of the key challenges uncovered in the CCSA is privacy and security concerns of customers in sharing their information. As AI technologies continue to grow in the banking sector, the privacy-personalization paradox has become a key research area that needs to be examined.

In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought on a plethora of challenges in the implementation of AI in the banking sector. Although banks' interest in AI technologies remains high, the reduction in revenue has resulted in a decrease in short-term investment in AI technologies (Anderson et al., 2021 ). Wu and Olson ( 2020 ) highlight the need for banking institutions to continue investing in AI technologies to reduce future risks and enhance the integration between online and offline channels. From a customer perspective, COVID-19 has led to an uptick in the adoption of AI-driven services such as chatbots, E-KYC (Know your client), and robo-advisors (Agarwal et al., 2022 ).

Future research directions

RQ 3: What are the current research deficits and the future directions of research in this field?

Tables 2 , 3 , and 4 provide a complete list of recommendations for future research. These recommendations were developed by reviewing all the future research directions included in the 44 papers. We followed Watkins' ( 2017 ) rigorous and accelerated data reduction (RADaR) technique, which allows for an effective and systematic way to analyze and synthesize calls for future research (Watkins, 2017 ).

Regarding strategy, as AI continues to grow in the banking industry, financial institutions need to examine how internal stakeholders perceive the value of embracing AI, the role of leadership, and multiple other variables that impact the organizational adoption of AI. Therefore, we recommend that future research investigate the different factors (e.g., leadership role) that impact the organizational adoption of AI technologies. In addition, as more organizations use and accept AI, internal challenges emerge (Jöhnk et al., 2021 ). Thus, we recommend examining the different organizational challenges (e.g., organizational culture) associated with AI adoption.

Regarding processes, AI and credit is one of the areas that has been extensively explored since 2005 (Bhatore et al., 2020 ). We recommend expanding beyond the currently proposed models and challenging the underlying assumptions by exploring new aspects of risks presented with the introduction of AI technologies. In addition, we recommend the use of more practical case studies to validate new and existing models. Additionally, the growth of AI has evoked further exploration of how internal processes can be improved (Akerkar, 2019 ). For instance, we suggest investigating AI-driven models with other financial products/solutions (e.g., investments, deposit accounts, etc.).

Regarding customers, the key theories mentioned in the research papers included in the study are the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and diffusion of innovation theories (Anouze and Alamro, 2019 ; Azad, 2016 ; Belanche et al., 2019 ; Payne et al., 2018 ; Sharma et al., 2015 , 2017 ). However, as customers continue to become accustomed to AI, it may be imperative to develop theories that go beyond its acceptance and adoption. Thus, we recommend investigating different variables (e.g., social influence and user trends) and methods (e.g., cross-cultural studies) that impact customers' relationship with AI. The gradual shift toward its customer-centric utilization has prompted the exploration of new dimensions of AI that influence customer experience. Going forward, it is important to understand the impact of AI on customers and how it can be used to improve customer experience.

Limitations and implications

This study had several limitations. During our inclusion/exclusion criteria, it is plausible that some AI/banking papers may have been missed because of the specific keywords used to curate our dataset. In addition, articles may have been missed due to the time when the data were collected, such as Manrai and Gupta ( 2022 ), who examined investors' perceptions of robo-advisors. Second, regarding theme identification, there may be a potential bias toward selecting themes, which may lead to misclassification. In addition, we acknowledge that the papers were extracted only from the WoS and Scopus databases, which may limit our access to certain peer-reviewed outlets.

This research provides insights for practitioners and marketers in the North American banking sector. To assist in the implementation of AI-based decision-making, we encourage banking professionals to consider further refining their use of AI in the credit scoring, analysis, and granting processes to minimize risk, reduce costs, and improve customer experience. However, in doing so, we recommend using AI not only to improve internal processes but also as a tool (e.g., chatbots) to improve customer service for low-complexity tasks, thereby directing employees' efforts to other business-impacting activities. Moreover, we recommend using AI as a marketing segmentation tool to target customers for optimal solutions.

This study systematically reviewed the literature (44 papers) on AI and banking from 2005 to 2020. We believe that our findings may benefit industry professionals and decision-makers in formulating strategic decisions regarding the different uses of AI in the banking sector, and optimizing the value derived from AI technologies. We advance the field by providing a more comprehensive outlook specific to the area of AI and banking, reflecting the history and future opportunities for AI in shaping business strategies, improving logistics processes, and enhancing customer value.

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Fares, O.H., Butt, I. & Lee, S.H.M. Utilization of artificial intelligence in the banking sector: a systematic literature review. J Financ Serv Mark 28 , 835–852 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41264-022-00176-7

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Published : 11 August 2022

Issue Date : December 2023

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1057/s41264-022-00176-7

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Banking and Finance Dissertation Topics – Selected for Business Students

Published by Owen Ingram at January 2nd, 2023 , Revised On August 16, 2023

Looking for an interesting banking and finance research idea for your dissertation? Your search for the best finance and banking dissertation topics ends right here because, a t ResearchProspect, we help students choose the most authentic and relevant topic for their dissertation projects.

Bank taxes, financial management, financial trading, credit management, market analysis for private investors, economic research methods, the economics of money and banking, international trade and multinational business, the wellbeing of people and society, principles and practices of banking, management and cost accounting, governance and ethics in banking, investment banking, introductory econometrics, and capital investment management are among the many topics covered in banking and finance.

Without further ado, here is our selection of the besting banking and finance thesis topics and ideas.

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The following dissertation topics for banking will assist students in achieving the highest possible grades in their dissertation on banking finance:

List of Banking and Finance Dissertation Topics

• A Comprehensive Analysis of the Economic Crisis as It Relates to Banking and Finance
• A Critical Review of Standard Deviation in Business
• The Political and Economic Risks Involving National Bank Transactions
• A Study of Corporate Developments in European Countries Regarding Banking and Finance
• Security Measures Implemented in Financial Institutions Around the World
• Banking and Finance Approaches from Around the World
• An in-depth study of the World Trade Organization’s role in banking and finance
• A Study of the Relationship Between Corporate Strategy and Capital Structures
• Contrasting global, multinational banks with regional businesses
• Preventing Repetitive Economic Collapse in National and Global Finances
• The Motivations for Becoming International Expats All Over the World
• The Difference Between Islamic Banking and Other Religious Denominations in Banking and Financial Habits
• How Can Small-Scale Industries Survive the Global Banking Demands?
• A Study of the Economic Crisis’s Impact on Banking and Finance
• The Impact of the International Stock Exchange on Domestic Bank Transactions
• A 2025 Projected Report on World Trade and Banking Statistics
• How Can We Address the Issue of the Government’s Financial Deficit in Banking?
• A Comparison of Contemporary and Classic Business Models and Companies’ Banking and Financial Habits
• Which of the following should be the principal area of money investment that has arrived at the bank in the form of deposits?
• How to strike a balance between investing money in various plans to generate a profit and managing depositor trust
• What are banks’ responsibilities to their depositors, and how may such liabilities be managed without jeopardising depositor trust?
• How the new banking financing laws enacted by governments throughout the world are better protecting depositors’ rights?
• What is the terminology related to banking finance, which oversees the investment of deposited funds as well as the banks’ responsibilities to depositors?
• Explain the most recent developments in research related to the topic of banking finance
• How research in the banking finance industry assists governments and banking authorities in properly managing their finances?
• What is the most recent credit rating software that assists in determining the rewards and dangers of investing bank funds in the stock market? 
• How banking finance assists the world’s top banks in managing consumer expectations and profit?
• The negative impact of a manager’s poor management of a bank’s banking financing
• Is it feasible to conduct a banking firm without the assistance of banking finance management?
• What are the most significant aspects of banking financing that allow businesses to develop without constraints?

The importance of banking finance cannot be overstated. These are only a few of the most extensive subjects on which you may write a banking and finance dissertation. Remember that if you want to succeed in your studies, you must be able to offer reliable numbers and facts on the history and current state of banking and finance throughout the world. Otherwise, you will very certainly be unable to justify your study effectively. We hope you can take some inspiration and ideas from the above banking and finance dissertation topics .

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Key banking issues and trends for 2022

With the end of 2021 in sight, it’s time to start thinking about what we might experience in banking in the coming year.

Karl Dahlgren , who heads the research group at BAI, is with us to talk about emerging issues and ongoing trends that stand to affect the industry in 2022.

A few takeaways from the conversation:

• Key themes for banks in 2022 include figuring out the new customer normal, finding and keeping talent, and adjusting to changing macro conditions
• BAI research indicates that banks and credit unions have worked hard to connect with consumers, and that their efforts are creating more loyalty
• Research also shows that half of millennials and Gen Z have some form of crypto investment, but bankers plan to keep moving slowly on that asset class

Watch BAI’s Karl Dahlgren and Mark Riddle discuss the results of the most recent BAI Banking Outlook survey in the recent webinar “Are you prepared for 2022?”

Subscribe to the BAI Banking Strategies podcast:

Below is a full transcript of my interview with Karl Dahlgren.

Karl, this is our annual conversation where we look back at the year that’s winding down and then look ahead to the year that’s coming up. So in that order, what were some of the key banking related trends that BAI Banking Outlook research identified in 2021?

So in 2021, Terry, two of the top three challenges for bankers were, one, improving the digital experience, and then, two, new customer acquisition. And those two are obviously interrelated since so many of the new customers come in by way of the digital channel, improving the digital experience will also improve new customer acquisition. One interesting fact on that is, in 2021, bankers felt there was a lot of work to be done there because a small percentage of them – single digits – felt that they have an excellent digital customer experience. And then when we went out and talked to the consumers, seven out of 10 of them that opened up new accounts did so at direct banks, meaning those banks that don’t have any branches. So there’s obviously a fair amount of work that can be done there to improve the digital customer experience and therefore improve customer acquisition. Also in 2021, with the new administration in place, there was increased regulatory scrutiny, and that was on the mind of many bankers, particularly wrestling with the question about how they can provide services to customers that are in the low- to moderate-income segment. And related to that is the important issue of fee income that folks were working with in 2021. How can those fees be removed or reduced? And then finally, big topic for 2021 was DEI – diversity, equity, inclusion – and then also ESG – environmental, social and governance. And there were some big improvements there in 2021, but that will roll over into 2022 as an aspect of what they’ll be focusing in on.

So that’s a good segue to moving our conversation forward toward the coming year. What do we anticipate being among the front-burner issues for financial institutions in 2022?

We have a research business that I lead, and that’s where banks provide us with account-level data. And we utilize that data so that they can compare and see how they’re performing relative to peers and the industry as a whole. And as part of that, we present industry trends when we read back the results to the various different banks. As we’ve been going through those presentations, there’s been four key themes that have emerged. The first theme is “What is the new consumer normal?” Everybody knows that digital behavior has increased during the pandemic. But the question on most financial service leaders’ minds is “What’s here to stay and what is transitory?” And then a second major theme is increasing competition. It’s not only coming from the fintechs but also the newly combined banks, as there’s been a lot of M&A activity over the course of 2021. And then also the war for talent – the Great Resignation, as it’s called, and how that might impact their ability to perform in 2022. And then the final topic or theme relates to the macro environment, and mostly that’s what’s going to happen with interest rates and inflation.

So let’s take those issues one at a time, maybe in reverse order, starting with the macro conditions facing the industry heading into 2022. There’s a lot of liquidity in the system right now, which we can see both in the bulging deposit data and also to some degree in the latest inflation figures, which are running hotter than anybody expected, even as GDP growth is slowing. Of course, rates and spreads continue to be repressed. Can you take us down into the numbers and our survey research, and maybe talk about that macro a little bit and what bankers might be expecting?

Yes, so, the survey was fielded in August and September, and at that time, financial service leader said that inflation would be a small problem or transitory. So then the question became, “How do you define transitory?” And as of late, the word transitory is being dropped. So this is a fast-evolving topic matter. It’s safe to say that inflation is going to be higher, and higher than what most financial services leaders were expecting just a few months ago. So I think it’s safe to say that the Fed is going to taper a little bit quicker than was originally anticipated, and that rates will likely raise more than what was anticipated. And that’s obviously a good thing for banks in general, because as the Fed raises rates, generally speaking, the banks will lag behind in raising rates on their deposits, and that’s a good thing for spreads for banks. But of course, it’s a balancing act. So you don’t want the rates going up so high that it negatively impacts the economy, and therefore business and the demand for loans, and affect the banks adversely on the other side of the balance sheet, on the lending side.

The focus on improving the customer experience is certainly something that we’ve written a lot about and talked about – whether it’s via better digital capabilities or via personalizing the experience to strengthen that connection. Of course, a lot of this is being driven by the pandemic. So let me ask you, what sense do we get about which consumer behaviors have undergone long-lasting change to the point of constituting a new consumer normal and which behaviors tend to revert as the pandemic eases off?

Consumer attitudes towards their primary bank have really improved, and that’s a positive thing. And we think that’s going to be a lasting effect. Banks have really stepped up during the pandemic in many ways to help shift consumer sentiment across the board. There’s been continuing efforts on DEI – diversity, equity, inclusion, and then ESG. And those are having real impact, particularly for the younger generations, on how they perceive banks. And then the business case for digital became quite clear during the pandemic, and there’s been a lot of investment by financial service leaders and banks in that space. And the consumers have really embraced a new level of digital services. It peaked during 2020, when essentially branches were closed and the digital channel was really the only available channel. But once branches came back online, it didn’t snap back to a baseline. And so there was a new normal of digital usage. In fact, as we looked at our survey, by 2024, consumers expect 61 percent of their banking business to be digital and 39 percent to be human-assisted. The biggest projected increases come from mobile and ATM, and that’s going to come at the expense of branch and drive-up, as those become a lower percentage of the channel mix over time.

BAI is particularly attuned to generational considerations at play when it comes to banking. What’s the research showing us about how the various generations are thinking about what constitutes a desirable customer experience?

Yeah, so consumers say the No. 1 way that financial service organizations can improve their customer experience is by improving the omnichannel experience. The No. 2 priority is giving tools and options to customize their own solution. And then the No. 3, which is interesting here, is improving branches for a better in-person experience. But when you look at those, as you ask the question from a generational perspective, one of the big differences is that Gen Z and millennials have enhanced the mobile channel in their top three. That didn’t appear for the other older generations. How do you make that actionable? So we asked a question of the consumers how they want their banking apps and digital capabilities to be improved. And the No. 1 priority was, for all generations, 24/7 customer service, so sort of a non-digital aspect of the digital channel.

So on the competition issue, there’s been a flood of new entrants into the financial services market, and that probably won’t change in 2022. There’s been a lot of merger activity as already big banks drive to get even bigger and smaller institutions, try to bulk up a little bit to protect themselves, and that probably won’t change in the coming year either. So how do we see the competitive landscape evolving over the next 12 months?

Well, it’s certainly increasing from the fintechs, and so the traditional banks are responding. They’re fighting back by adopting some fintech-like products or, at least, some of the features of fintech products. And those features are early payday advance, NSF grace and forgiveness or no NSF fees. And so that’s really to appeal to the younger customers and the low- to moderate-income households. In addition to the pressures from the fintechs, there’s competitive pressures from within the traditional competitors as their M&A activity continues. So we have many banks that contribute to our research by providing us data and, even within the consortium of BAI, we’ve had a number of acquisitions. PNC and BBVA Compass combined, U.S. Bank and Union Bank combined, and so did Iberia and First Horizon. So there are many examples of larger banks combining, and we expect merger-and-acquisition activity to continue as banks really need scale to spread technology and branch expenses across a larger customer base to gain efficiency.

You mentioned banks offering fintech-like products. There’s also been growing collaboration between banks and fintech – more mutually beneficial partnerships on that front. Scale being so important in banking these days, I would think that developing those fintech connections could be especially impactful, particularly for smaller banks and credit unions. What does our research show there?

So, for a while now, we’ve been asking financial service leaders to what extent they feel competitive pressure from fintechs, and 51% said “always” or “often”, and that’s up from 36% in 2020. So that number is significantly increased. Also, 56% of leaders said they learned lessons from fintechs that they plan to implement in 2022, and that’s up from 42%, so another example of what I would call a dramatic increase. And then 57% said they plan to collaborate with fintech companies, and that’s up from 42% from the year previous. Only 6% said they plan to acquire a fintech, but when you start slicing that by the size of the bank, that pops up to 25% when you’re talking about the large banks. So as you get smaller with the banks, there’s more of a tendency to collaborate versus acquire.

So finally, there’s that talent issue facing banks that you mentioned. All of the things that need to be sorted out as more workers return to the office in 2022. The competition between banks for talent and between banking and other industries. So many people rethinking their future as part of the great resignation that you also referred to. Take us through the BAI Banking Outlook research on how institutions are thinking about the various talent questions that they face.

Well, banks are not just competing against other banks for talent, especially in the highly competitive roles like technology and analytics. We’ve seen, in our talent management benchmarking study, that the average time to fill open positions continues to take longer – much longer, particularly as it relates to the higher-paid, more specialized roles. And if you talk to the leaders in the talent space inside the banking industry, what you find out is that the talent acquisition groups are just overwhelmed with the number of open positions, so it’s changing significantly. You also find that banks who have had a tough time recruiting in the high-cost-of-living markets, like out on the East Coast, in New York and similar, are now starting to recruit in lower-cost markets now that the workforce is more flexible and can work from home. According to our research, 66% of bankers believe that non-customer-facing employees will be in the office three days a week or more as the new normal work schedule for 2022. So this is the return-to-office topic matter, and it’s changing relatively rapidly and that’s evolving – as time goes on, I’m sure it’s going to be impacted by this new variant that we’ve recently learned about. Also, on the diversity, equity and inclusion front, which is something that we also track, it was important in 2021 and it is going to continue to be important in 2022. In our benchmarking studies, we’re seeing that representation on ethnicity, race and gender on both the executive team, as well as the board of directors, is improving. Female senior leadership and Black or African-American senior leadership percentages are improving at banks over time, although there’s still some work to be done there. So quite a lot is happening on the talent front.

Okay, Karl, so this is our final podcast of 2021. So you get to make the last forecast of what we might expect to see in the coming year. I’m looking for you to go beyond the areas that we’ve been discussing in this conversation by offering a prediction, based on our research or on your own knowledge or observations, of a banking-related product or service or trend that is going to really move more front and center in 2022. Go.

So, Terry, I’m coming off of a meeting that I attended with some C-level bankers, and there were three speakers that we brought in. Two of them talked about either cryptocurrency or blockchain. So that’s a topic matter you and I have not discussed in this podcast yet. And we ask consumers, “Are you invested in cryptocurrencies or a fund with exposure to crypto?” And as you know, cryptocurrencies include like, Bitcoin and Dogecoin and Ethereum, and then there’s other ways to invest and get exposure to crypto that isn’t necessarily buying crypto, like Coinbase or even investing in Tesla. Our research found that 53% of Gen Z are invested in crypto, and 52% of millennials. It’s a little lower, like 30%, when you get to the older generations. And then we ask financial service leaders if they have plans for cryptocurrency, and the overwhelming majority, 76%, said they had no plans for crypto, and there are some 6% that say that they plan to offer crypto as an investment alternative. So quite a gap versus the consumers and what they’re investing in, and the bankers and what they’re offering. So I think that this is going to be an emerging topic that will get a lot of attention in 2022.

And if history is any guide, that gap will certainly narrow as financial services providers  recognize the opportunity. So Karl Dahlgren, managing director for research at BAI, thanks again for joining us for the last Banking Strategies podcast of 2021.

Thanks for having me, Terry. Appreciate it.

Terry Badger  is the managing editor at  BAI .

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RESEARCH REPORT

Top 10 banking trends for 2024

Banking on AI

5-MINUTE READ

January 8, 2024

• Banking stands on the threshold of a new era, similar to the start of the Digital Age.
• Like digital, the Age of AI is likely to have a transformative impact on the industry, affecting roles in virtually every part of the bank.
• Not only is the rapid adoption of gen AI the most important trend for banks in 2024—it’s also shaping the other nine trends.

The age of AI

A quarter of a century ago, banking stood on the verge of the Digital Age. The internet was starting to reveal its potential and most bankers had a strong premonition that far-reaching change was coming. Today we feel a similar sense of awe as we contemplate the potential of gen AI, especially when powered by the cloud and rapidly expanding data capabilities.

We’re confident the age of AI will change banking and many other industries—exactly how, we’ll only know in retrospect. No part of the bank—and few if any roles within it—will remain untouched. 

Every year we share our perspective on the trends most likely to shape the future of the industry in the next 12 months and beyond. It should be no surprise the number one trend this year is the rapid adoption of gen AI, nor that it’ll have a transformative impact on the other nine trends bankers will need to confront in the months to come.

We’re now on the threshold of the Age of AI. Banking, like most other industries, will never be the same. The challenge is to ensure it’s a force for good that benefits our organizations, our people and all humankind.

10 trends will change banking in 2024

1. the rise of gen ai.

Banks are likely to benefit more than other industries—our analysis indicates productivity could rise by 20–30% and revenue by 6%. Banks will need to not only utilize cloud and data effectively, but also to rethink work and talent.

2. Capturing the digital dividend

While most banks have mastered digital, it has come at the cost of close customer relationships. Banks will need to focus on finding ways to have meaningful conversations with customers across these channels – AI may hold the key.

3. All the risk we cannot see

In 2024, banks will be confronted by a variety of risks—some familiar, others less obvious. We've identified five that deserve particular attention. Planning for the unplanned will pay dividends.

4. A whole new way of working

Banks are realizing that people are just as important as technology to the success of their human + machine initiatives. They’re putting talent at the center of their strategies as they reimagine the future of work.

5. The power of pricing

Banks have always known optimized pricing can hugely impact their top and bottom lines. Now they’re starting to combine intuition with gen AI and more comprehensive data to turbocharge scenario planning and move closer to personalized pricing.

6. Time to think cloud first

Most banks’ early experiences of cloud were like that of a novice driver put behind the wheel of a Ferrari: they tried to drive it like a family sedan. Lately they're moving up through the gears and discovering what cloud can really do for them.

7. Regulation recalibrated

Bank regulations have ballooned since the 2008/9 Financial Crisis. We expect more collaboration among banks, central banks and regulators to work more effectively together.

8. From technology to engineering

How does the role of technology in banking evolve? A subtle change, with major organizational implications: the shift from a technology management to an engineering mindset.

9. The key to the core

New approaches and technologies—not least of which is gen AI and its ability to swiftly convert outdated code—are combining to finally free banks from the limitations of their aging core systems.

10. Beyond Six Sigma

Banks have historically employed re-engineering and cost-out thinking to optimize operations and experiences—the limitations were clear. Gen AI’s learning ability breaks this barrier and ushers in a new way of thinking that goes beyond Six Sigma.

Gen AI will undoubtedly be disruptive, but we’re confident that most of this will be positive. Our recent Art of AI Maturity survey on the topic—involving 1,600 C-suite executives at many of the world’s largest companies—found that 42% of those leading the way have already achieved a return on their AI investments that exceeds their expectations.

But the secret to these outcomes isn’t AI—it’s how it’s being used. It’s as much about people as it is about technology and as much about strategy as implementation. That’s a lot of balls to keep up in the air. But banks that master this juggling act will look back in years to come and toast to 2024.

As we enter the Age of AI, many bankers feel the same sense of awe that their counterparts did a quarter of a century ago as they stood on the verge of the Digital Age.

Michael Abbott / Global Banking Lead

Michael Abbott discusses how generative AI could reshape financial services in 2024 in this American Banker podcast.

Frequently asked questions

Is gen ai just another technology fad.

The speed at which gen AI is being adopted by most organizations in nearly all industries, and the massive escalation of the power of the technology, are convincing indicators that it is here to stay—and will have a profound impact on banking.

What benefits does gen AI offer banks?

Gen AI will make bank professionals more productive and improve the efficiency of banks’ operating model. However, we believe its biggest impact will be to increase revenue and loyalty by improving banks’ ability to understand and respond to individual customers’ intent and financial goals.

Where in the average bank is AI likely to have the greatest positive impact?

There are few functions and roles that will not be affected; our analysis indicates 73% of banking roles have a high potential to be either automated or augmented. We’ve already identified about 50 promising use cases for banks.

How should banks include talent in their gen AI strategy?

People should be at the very center of every gen AI strategy. New skills are needed to design, build, implement and train gen AI – banks will need to get used to a new way of working.

Related insights

• Top 10 banking trends for 2023
• Art of AI maturity
• Banking Consumer Study

Michael Abbott

Senior Managing Director – Global Banking Lead

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• Chinese Bank’ Human Resources Management The paper analyses HRM through an examination of new approaches, recruitment and selection, monitoring and rewarding at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.
• International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and World Trade Organization This paper studies three international financial organizations: the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization.
• Mountain Bank’s Business Strategy Organizational profits rely on a good business strategic plan. For the case of Mountain Bank, the profits have been declining as a result of the poor business strategic plan.
• Benefits and the Challenges of Financial Restructuring for Bank Muscat – Oman Bank Muscat is a fiscal services company in Oman that offers retail banking, corporate banking, treasury, investment banking, asset management, and private banking.
• Punjab National Bank Housing Finance Company: Case Analysis Punjab Nation Bank Housing Finance Limited has experienced stagnant growth since its incorporation with other partners in 1988.
• The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Standard Chartered Bank This paper will explore the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on the Standard Chartered bank, the development of technology, and its influence on human resource management.
• The Effectiveness of the World Bank The World Bank has been ineffective in its roles because of the poor review of projects, weak implementation of organizational policies, and failure to alleviate extreme poverty.
• Problems With Improve Bank Services Some of the problems that banks are likely to encounter while attempting to deliver solid customer service include privacy laws, fair lending policies, and debt securities.
• Finance: The Currency School-Banking School Debate The period of the 1840s in the history of the economic thought is characterized by a significant controversy observed between the Currency School and Banking School.
• The Bain & Co. and the Old Family Bank Analysis This paper aims at a holistic and comprehensive analysis of Bain & Co. and the Old Family Bank from the point of view of internal and external aspects.
• Corporate Social Responsibility in Bangladesh’s Banking Sector CSR practices by banks in Bangladesh not only enhance their accountability but also boost their success and influence the socially responsible behaviors of other firms.
• The Lehman Brothers Bank Collapse The main purpose of this study is to examine the financial crisis of 2008-2010 on public discourse with regard to the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
• Island Banking Services: Cybersecurity Strategy and Implementation Plan This paper aims to describe the cybersecurity strategy and its implementation plan for Island Banking Services that is a firm that works in Financial Transactions Processing.
• Analysis of Islamic Banking and Finance The purpose of this article is to consider the features of Islamic banking, as well as the principles on which the relationship between the bank and customers is built.
• Macroeconomic Theory: Barclays Bank in the UK For purposes of this study, we will analyze how the national economy can affect the performance of Barclays Bank, a major Public Limited Company.
• International Logistics, Business, and Banking Conservative decisions are quite typical in the realm of financial operations for numerous reasons, the high possibility of a failure as a result of the lack of proper testing.
• Time Management for Students in Bahrain’s Banking This research is aimed to study the opinions and attitudes towards time management among the students at Bahrain University and the country’s financial sector.
• National Australia Bank: Corporate Social Responsibility This paper explores corporate social responsibility through an analysis of a company selected from the database of the world’s most ethical companies.
• World Bank’s Contribution to Sustainable Development Goals The essay examines the role of the World Bank in bolstering the Sustainable Development Goals measures to combat poverty and promote development.
• The Bank Robbery Crime Investigation The primary objective of securing the crime scene is to preserve all the evidence that can help trace and identify the bank robbery suspect.
• JPMorgan Chase Bank and Big Data The purpose of this paper is to analyze big data as technology concerning JPMorgan Chase and consider how it can be used shortly by this company.
• Investment Opportunity Analysis: British Banking Sector The Big Four British banks dominate the UK banking industry for a number of reasons, including their longevity, aggressive marketing, and service variety.
• Analysis of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank is a full-service commercial bank that provides a broad range of products and services, for instance, retail banking, management of wealth and others.
• HSBC Bank Balance Sheet Analysis Financial accounts have different users; each user has specific needs they require from the accounts. Financial account users can be defined into two main segments.
• Attempted Bank Robbery Criminal Justice Case The suggested case describing the plan to commit a crime of bank robbery is characterized by several elements that are commonly identified in crime attempts.
• Waiting Lines Situation at Banking Organizations Hiring more personnel could be a solution to address the challenge of long queues at many facilities.
• Doha Bank Qatar’s Strategic Thinking and Leadership Doha Bank Qatar involves its departments together with external agencies and customer firms to incorporate innovation and focus on change to achieve success in its operations.
• Developing the Islamic Banking Cluster in the UAE The report’s mission is to develop the Islamic banking cluster in the UAE in order to be number one in Islamic Banking.
• Bank of Credit and Commerce International’s Criminal Activity This case provides adequate information on how BCCI bank was involved in a global financial crime of laundering billions of dollars globally.
• Lloyd’s Tsb Bank Is Under Fire for Money Laundering Offense This research article discusses the role of the bank, either knowingly or unknowingly, in laundering the money obtained by cheating.
• COVID-19 Effects for Truist Bank With the spread of COVID-19, causing many Americans to lose jobs and see financial hardships, Truist would need to focus on how they can help their customers in their times of need.
• St. George Bank: Human Resources and Entrepreneurship St. George Bank should also come up with new methods to access their customers and also new channels on which the customers can get their services.
• Analyzing Bank Performance: Risk Propositions This report points out some of the challenging circumstances that the banks and financial institutions may find themselves in if the crisis goes out of hand.
• Banking, Its Ancient and Modern History The history of banking dates back to Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire. The first prototypes were created by merchants around 2000 BC in Assyria and Sumeria.
• Bank Reconciliation: Theft and Control Deficiencies Internal control is a vital process because it gives reasonable assurance about the activities of a company and compliance with laws and regulations.
• Barclays Bank’s Innovative Managerial Practices One of the most vivid examples of Barclays’s encouragement of entrepreneurship processes is the LifeSkills program.
• National Australia Bank Analysis The national Australia bank has many programs which help it to adhere to the ethical regulations which govern all businesses in Australia.
• Mobile Banking Development and Analysis Project This research will be discussing the application of a mobile banking application, its effects, and its benefits to the consumers.
• United States Banking Merger Relevance In the banking sector, mergers and takeovers have become very common. In this paper, the researcher will look at the relevance of banking mergers in the modern market.
• Electronic Banking Services in a Qatar Bank The present research is based on the context of e-banking services in Qatar, a small country with abundant natural assets. Banks in Qatar have not been able to get the majority of customers.
• Evolution of Modern Banking: Middle Ages to Present The history of banking began around 2000 BCE in Assyria, Sumeria, and India when wealthy families kept gold and silver coins in their homes.
• Customer Analysis via Entropy and Information Gain in Banking The introduction of big data analytics in the financial sector has provided bankers with countless opportunities to improve the quality of their services.
• The Basel III Agreement in Banking The paper discusses Basel III. It is a global regulatory agreement that mandates banks to maintain particular leverage ratios and reserve capital levels.
• Credit Quality in Banking Lending and Investment This paper analyses the credit quality problems of banking institutions’ lending and investment decisions over the last 30 years.
• Barclays Bank’s Decision-Making and Leadership Barclays Bank Board comes up with the vision for the bank. It could be the expansion plans into the Middle East or the African continent.
• Bank of Japan’s Unconventional Monetary Policy In Japan, the supply of money is mainly controlled by the Bank of Japan with the help of monetary policy that is focused on inflation and interest rates.
• The Central Bank Currency in the Monetary System The article examines the central bank currency in the monetary system. The people’s need to have control over money is the reason for the need for the central bank currency.
• Key Learnings for Banking Sector During COVID-19 The changing nature of the modern business environment requires considering organizational development (OD) practices.
• Information Gain in the Banking Sphere Information gain can be determined as a methodology that can be practically applied to the digitalization of payments in the banking sphere.
• CNP Bank Card: Case Analysis This paper focuses on the CNP bank card case, which aims to create a method for forecasting credit-card defaults and identifying potential client bases for various credit instruments.
• Information Gain and Entropy Methods in Banking The paper reviews the methods of information gain and entropy used by banking companies and critically analyzes some alternatives that are possible to use.
• Moroccan Central Bank’s Ethics and Systems The banking sector in the last two years has been impacted greatly by the COVID-19 pandemic. The situation led to the emergence of various innovations.
• A Bank, a Grocery Store, and a Restaurant: The Cultural Features This paper analyzes the available cultural features of a bank, a grocery store, and a restaurant to determine the distinctive features of these public places.
• America’s Banking Industry: Past, Present, and Future Banks are critical to the economic stability of a country. Banks are the primary option for borrowing, saving, and investing for millions of Americans in the United States.
• People Analytics of the Qatar National Bank One of the biggest challenges in conducting people analytics research for the Qatar National Bank is working with unstructured data.
• The National Banking Crisis Analysis The recent crisis at a national bank has attracted nationwide coverage due to its massive effect on the economy.
• Qatar National Bank’s General Information Bank groups that have already developed the most efficient business models and managed to expand their operations globally are in a comfortable position.
• Banking in the United States of America The banking system of the United States of America is one of the youngest, and banking has its own specifics with a lot of restrictions and even archaic elements.
• The Community Reinvestment Act and the Banking Systems This paper aims to study the impact of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) on banking in communities of Arkansas, California, and Boston.
• Islamic Banking and Its Development Problems Islamic banking’s main purpose is to perform the function of making payments and working with a considerable amount of money.
• Bank’s Digital Trends, Opportunities, and Threats The essay demonstrates the most crucial digital opportunities and threats for a commercial bank. The strategies to reduce the number of abandoned baskets are discussed.
• AMZ Bank’s Main Problems and Their Solution As a result of the analysis of the AMZ bank and its activities, it was found that the main problem is a toxic culture and the resulting social and economic structure.
• Banking: A Balance Sheet and an Income Statement The paper indicates that when compared to a balance sheet, an income statement presents a less defined and incomplete type of analysis.
• Wells Fargo Bank Scandal in Southern California The scandal in Wells Fargo Bank emerged after the customers started receiving the cards in their mail and others noticed accumulating bank fees.
• An Overview of Risks in Banking and Investments Credit ratings serve as vital tools for the investor, especially when they need a precise analysis of the organization’s position at a glance.
• Green Initiatives of the Toronto-Dominion Bank The paper will assess the actions taken by Toronto-Dominion Bank in order to reduce its impact on the environment.
• Organizational and National Culture in Banking The most important feature of commercial bank management is the continuous search for a productive compromise between the organizational and the national cultures.
• Current Dynamics and Trends in Corporate Banking Sustainable financing is one of the emerging trends in corporate banking due to the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Banking Regulations Undermining Financial Crisis Traces of financial crisis and negative externalities have been present across the banking sector for the last several decades.
• Bank of America and Financial Analysis Bank of America is a leading US financial institution. An analysis of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) is essential when planning the Bank’s future.
• East Bank Regional Hospital System The paper presents reasons to support East Bank Regional Hospital’s decision to expand its services. The consideration of the diseases will meet the medical needs.
• Change in Composition of Bank Funding Since 2008 The main components of bank funding are deposits, short-term debts, and long-term debts. Over 50% of bank funding originates from retail deposits.
• Impact of Bank Regulation, Market Structure, and Institutions on Cost of Financial Intermediation Through the process of intermediation, the financial institutions are able to ensure that there is an effective flow of funds.
• Banks and Banking in Spain The Spanish legal framework has transformed banking and insurance services due to the creation of the EU single market.
• Hull vs. Bank Case Study This case reflects the issue that occurred between the property tenants and the North Adams Hoosac Savings Bank. Harry transferred his interests in East Quincy and to his wife.
• Competition in Islamic Banking Systems The main purpose of the research will be to investigate the effect of competition on profitability and the market power in the Islamic banking system.
• The Effect of Finance as It Relates to Banking in Our Society The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects of finance as it relates to banking in the Cayman Islands.
• Islamic Banking: Risk Management, Operations and Barriers Islamic banks have been opened all over the world and they have their own unique operations that depend on the rules and regulations of Islamic law.
• National Bank of Bahrain Analysis This report attempts to analyze the characteristics that determine the attractiveness of the NBB to investors, namely its financial structure and corporate governance framework.
• Piggy Bank’s Sample Size to Estimate Mean Dollars To estimate a single population mean, the sample size should be the same as the population size. So, all the customers of Piggy Bank will have to be included in the sample.
• Islamic Banking Features Analysis The purpose of the research will explore specific features within Islamic banking that impede the free flow of capital.
• Improving the American International Bank Situation The research is targeted at offering several ways to better the American International Bank (AIB) current situation as well as outline its future opportunities.
• Opening a Bank Office in Lithuania This paper will discuss the viability of opening a bank office in Lithuania. Opening a new office usually involves many risks, especially if the new area is not researched properly.
• Information Age, Future, and Medical Banking Medical banking organized following the concept of patient-centered care can facilitate the shift from logical considerations to the particular needs of patients.
• DuPont Analysis of the Chinese Bank of Communications The present report aims at applying DuPont analysis to evaluate the performance of the Chinese Bank of Communications (BoCom) against its competitor, China Merchants Bank (CMB).
• Corporate Governance Against Financial Risk Up to Date With Banking Crisis The essay discusses financial problems, especially the financial banking crisis and how to deal with it and its risks, as well as the impact of corporate governance on it.
• Opening a Bank Branch in Lithuania Lithuania is a perfect country to open a new branch of the regional bank. It is a highly developed state with significant achievements in economics and international trade.
• The Bank of America on the Verge of Substantial Changes It is essential to find the right balance between the desire to improve the growth margins and the risk of losing everything through bankruptcy to profit and raise capital.
• To Loan or Not to Loan: Taggert’s Bank Plans Taggert’s bank plans to extend its subprime loans and is exploring new lending methods that will increase its competitive edge.
• The Crisis in UK Banking of 2007-2008 The combination of major economic shocks and the unprecedented global policy response to the banking crisis has generated exceptional uncertainties for household,
• Wachovia Bank Financial Report Wachovia bank, which is now a part of Wells Fargo bank, was regarded as the fourth-largest bank holding company in the USA, the financial system of which was based on total assets.
• Banking Policy Regulation: Lending to Minorities The lenders argue, many minorities take loans which they cannot afford to pay. Some households take mortgage loans with anticipation that the prices for these houses will increase.
• Best Big Bank in Australia & Principal Agent Theory The paper reviewed the possible problems that occurred while the “Nucleus” referral system implementation in the Best Big Bank located in Australia.
• The Analysis of Wells Fargo Bank Actions The Wells Fargo Bank was helping the mining companies to raise enough money to enhance their efficient exploitation of minerals on mountain tops.
• Financial Market Regulation and Bank Activity Limitations The limitations on bank activity vary in countries, there are some similar processes: policies on bank’s capital, and the policies on the connection between banking and business.
• Financial Management and Investment Banking This paper will focus on the primary markets, analyze the functions that investment bankers perform in the traditional process for issuing new securities.
• Mobile Telephony Services Investing in Real-Time Banking Investing in new smartphone technology is a waste of time in poor markets. Investing in services through mobile telephone services seems to be the next big thing.
• Improving Workplace Learning for the Bank Tellers Improving workplace learning for the bank tellers by first identifying the weaknesses or obstacles then developing a strategy towards addressing the weaknesses.
• The Ethical Issues of Western Bank and Trust and Bobby’s Bagels Managers In this paper I am going to examine ethical issues in two companies: Western Bank and Trust and Bobby’s Bagel.
• Geithner’s Bank Plan: Winners and Losers Joshua Zumbrun in his article “Geithner’s Bank Plan: Winners and Losers” in the “Forbes” offers banks to sell their bad assets – the loans and securities they cannot unload in the market.
• The Grew of Financial World Crisis: Global Central Bank As Michael Mandel writes in his article, the financial world crisis flows out of the absence of a global central bank, which could have regulated the world financial movements.
• Banking Bail-Outs and the Housing Market This paper focuses on the impact of the banking bail-out on the housing sector. The US banking bail-outs elicited spirited criticism and resistance from thousands of Americans.
• St. George Bank. Profits and Perspectives. The financial statements of St. George Bank Ltd are legitimately prepared in accordance with Australian Accounting Standards, the Corporation Act of 2001.
• Bank of America Launching New Online Services Bank of America successfully tested its new mobile banking service on a small-scale basis to determine the acceptability level among customers.
• Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank’s Online Banking Services The purpose of this paper is to analyze modern online banking practices in the UAE, using Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) as an example.
• Macroeconomics Interest Rates and Aggregated Supply: Demand in the Federal Reserve Bank The Federal Reserve Bank makes a decision to increase interest rates regardless of the fact that real wages do not rise.
• Vision Bank’s Intercultural Communication: Problems and Recommendations The selected company for this report is Vision Bank. It provides banking, loans, financial advice, and consultancy services to customers in different regions.
• Central Bank’s Communications Strategy The set of genres and a wide range of meditating technologies associated with the Central bank’s communications strategy can be perceived as portions of local organization action.
• Global Political Economy: World Trade Organization, World Bank, and European Union This essay on global political economy will present answers to the attached questions. The answer to the first question will illuminate the exact functions of World Trade Organization.
• Bank Solutions International’s Technology Gaps and Security Strategy Training of information staff and personnel would be done on a quarterly basis and this would reduce the effect of an outdated approach to problem-solving.
• Global Financial Crisis and Banking System in Australia The recent global financial crisis affected almost all banks in the world with very few banks shielded from this misfortune.
• Human Rights in Israel-Gaza and West Bank Regions The conflict in the Gaza region was a violation of human rights because the sovereignty of the state was not respected by foreign powers.
• Veema Banking Company’s Investment in the UAE This report provides an analysis of the general business environment that Veemah Banking Company will meet during the employment of its investment endeavors in the UAE.
• Grameen Banking System Alleviating Poverty This paper discusses various aspects of the Grameen banking system and focuses on how it has assisted communities, and evaluate its future success.
• Bank’s Performance Financial Regulation Net income which signifies the profits that a bank makes after taxes gives us a direct view of a bank’s performance in terms of its ability to pay dividends as well as retain earnings.
• Fraud Perpetrators in Banking Organizations Most of the fraud perpetrators are insiders. This is common among the lowly paid employees who have the feeling that their employers are paying them too less.
• Barclays Bank History and Analysis Barclays bank is one of the oldest banks in the world. Its history dates back in the 17th century when, banking services were being introduced in the United Kingdom.
• Bank Loan Manager: Job Analysis and Recruitment Bank loan manager is a rather profitable and respectable job, and its popularity and prestige have been growing during the last decade.
• Goldman Sachs Group in Investment Banking Industry Goldman Sachs Group has had a long history in the context of the global economy and, therefore, has gained impressive experience over the years of its operations.
• Hedging Strategy and Bank Risk Management Strategy for risk management is an essential step for banks. Hedging is a tool managing the financial risks that may emerge in the process of managing forwards and futures.
• US Financial and Banking Reforms History The paper reviews articles that analyze the challenges of the US financial institution in 1832 and explain the significance of the US banking reforms under Nicolas Biddle.
• Bank of America’s E-Business Challenges The promoters of the Bank of America have not conceded on the matter of going e-business. This problem has a direct relation to the size and financial ability.
• The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank’s Initiative The purpose of this paper is to discuss the implications of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank’s initiative and analyze three global connections with regard to the project.
• State Bank’s and Real Estate Bank’s Collapse Today, the collapse of state banks is the problematic situation which is often associated with significant economic and political problems in the country.
• The Rise of Islamic Banking in a Time of Economic Crisis On the surface, it may seem odd that Islamic banking is in such demand but when looked at from a cultural and religious perspective, it embodies the very essence of Islamic law.
• Eastern Bank and First Bank & Trust Company Merger The Eastern Bank Corporation and the First Bank & Trust Company have different human resources policies. For the merger, a general HR management strategy should be developed.
• China’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank China’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is an organization intended to support infrastructural development in the region. The US and Japan voiced their disproval of the endeavor.
• US Banking Expansion in Emerging Markets U.S. banking has contributed significantly to the development of financial markets of emerging countries such as China, Malaysia, Brazil, and others.
• Major British Banking Group and Financial Crisis The purpose of this study is the assess the extent to which financial crisis in the United States of America contributed to the liquidity crash in the Major British banking group.
• Commercial Bank’s Profitability in Austria The analysis done in this paper shows that there is a close relationship between gross domestic product and commercial banks’ profitability in Austria.
• World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index The World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index (LPI) is constructed to assist countries in determining the key challenges and opportunities in logistics.
• Foreign Investment in Chinese Banking Sector: HR Policies China`s banking system and foreign investment policies have to survive numerous changes and improvements using its norms and guidelines in comparison to developing countries.
• The National Australia Bank’ Corporate Governance The purpose of this paper is to develop a critical analysis of NAB’s corporate governance in terms of the protocols and practices.
• The Lehman Bank: Irregularities and Cybercrimes Henry Lehman had until recently been the head of one of the world’s largest and most successful investment bank. Smith was a professional who had worked for one of the Lehman Bank’s subsidiaries.
• Economics: Currency and Banking Schools Debates This thesis of the paper will be a statement about the importance of the Currency and Banking Schools, especially their influence on the decisions of policy-makers.
• Financial Regulation by the IMF and the World Bank The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank use several instruments to regulate the balance of payments problems and other financial crisis that countries might have faced.
• Does Customer Relationship Management Matter in the Banking System?
• Have More Strictly Regulated Banking Systems Fared Better During the Recent Financial Crisis?
• Does Banking Competition Alleviate or Worsen Credit Constraints Faced by Small and Medium Enterprises?
• Can Bubble Theory Foresee Banking Crises?
• Are Bank Holding Companies a Source of Strength to Their Banking Subsidiaries?
• Does Banking Competition Affect Innovation?
• Why Fixing the ‘Shadow Banking’ Sector Is Essential for the U.S. Housing Market?
• Are Cooperatives the Weakest Link in European Banking?
• Has the Global Banking System Become More Fragile Over Time?
• Does Banking Regulation Cause Counterproductive Economic Dynamics?
• Can Monetary Union Enhance Banking Competition?
• How Does Banking Market Power Affect Bank Opacity?
• Are Banking Supervisory Data Useful for Macroeconomic Forecasts?
• Does Banking Consolidation Worsen Firms’ Access to Credit?
• Are Banking Systems Increasingly Fragile?
• How Does Banking Sector Globalization Affect the Banking Crisis?
• Can Sustainable Banking Help Stimulate Economic Growth in Sub-Sahara Africa?
• Are Labor-Saving Technologies Lowering Employment in the Banking Industry?
• How Does Competition Affect Efficiency and Soundness in Banking?
• Can Central Banking Survive the IT Revolution?
• Are More Competitive Banking Systems More Stable?
• Does Banking Consolidation Lead to Efficiency Gains?
• Are Recoveries From Banking and Financial Crises Really So Different?
• What Determines the Banking Sector Performance in Globalized Financial Markets?
• Can the Chinese Banking System Continue to Grow Without Sacrificing Loan Quality?
• Are Systemic Banking Crises in Developed and Developing Countries Predictable?
• What Drives Banking Sector Fragility in the Eurozone?
• Can Islamic Banking Increase Financial Inclusion?
• Does Banking Sector Development Affect Economic Growth and Inflation?
• What Are the Customer Perceptions Towards Banking Industry Marketing?

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These essay examples and topics on Banking were carefully selected by the StudyCorgi editorial team. They meet our highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, and fact accuracy. Please ensure you properly reference the materials if you’re using them to write your assignment.

This essay topic collection was updated on January 5, 2024 .

350 Banking Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best banking topic ideas & essay examples, 👍 good essay topics on banking, 🥇 interesting topics to write about banking, 📝 simple & easy banking essay titles, 💡 most interesting banking topics to write about, 📑 good research topics about banking, ❓ money and banking essay questions.

• The Banking Concept of Education by Paulo Freire This is one of the details that should be taken into account by the readers. This is one of the pitfalls that should be avoided.
• Log Book for Internship With Merrill Lynch Bank As regarding to new skills, I learnt new methods of analyzing companies in the stock market and how to present information gathered to the supervisors/advisors.
• The 2008 Banking Crisis in the Documentary “Inside Job” Using the documentary “Inside Job”, the paper presented below asserts that the malpractices of different banking experts, the ethical dilemma revolving around ratings agencies’ actions, and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley and the Glass-Steagall Acts influenced the nature […]
• Internet Banking Effects and Results Internet banking has certainly played a key role in the increase and ease of banking services the world over and the reasons for this are not difficult to discern.
• JPMorgan Chase Bank: Ratio Analysis The ratios are debt-to-equity, the interest coverage ratio, the equity ratio, and the debt-to-asset ratio. For the years 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020, JPM had a fixed turnover ratio of 7.
• Commercial Bank of Australia Ltd vs. Amadio The decision by the court held that the bank manager and the commercial bank were aware of the special disadvantage of the Amadios and made no substantive efforts to ensure that Amadio clearly understood the […]
• Barclays Bank Description Introduction Barclays bank is a UK-based Multinational Corporation headquartered in London and operates in the financial niche. The universal bank was established in 1860 in London as a goldsmith’s lending business offering people loans and saving options. The bank’s resilience in the corporate domain made it navigate all the challenges, and it still operates to […]
• The Banking Model of Education In the banking concept of education, the teacher is considered to be knowledgeable and experienced in contrast to the students who are supposed to be “blank slates,” or, in other words, entirely ignorant of the […]
• Case of Westpac Bank & St. George Bank Merger The merger of the Westpac bank that is the member of the “Big Four” in Australia and the simple regional bank St.
• Citibank’s E-Business Strategy and Competences Citibank has incorporated the use of e-business in its operation so that it can meet the needs of its customers and to withstand the market pressures which have been changing drastically.this paper has established the […]
• Wellfleet Bank: Case Study Under Group Risk Committee, the company further delegates duties to: reputational, country, operational, group credit, market risk, business risk, and business risk committees.
• Factors Which Impact Barclays Bank Political factors refer to the government policies that affect businesses and the extent to which the government intervenes in the economy.
• Wells Fargo Banking Scandal: Ethical Analysis The structure and the business model of Wells Fargo allowed the emergence of the working environment that incited the employees to unethical behaviors.
• Mobile Banking Adoption: Challenges and Solutions Therefore, the writer wishes to investigate the numerous impacts of mobile banking because the burgeoning phenomenon may entirely replace traditional banking in the near future, specifically in the UK.
• Lloyds Banking Group’s Situational Analysis These products the company has diversified in various products and markets in an attempt to grow and increase its share in the market.
• Role of Central Bank If central bank offers credit to the banks at a higher rate, then the rate of interest that commercial banks will offer loans to the public will be high; this reduces the attractiveness of the […]
• The Concept of Usul Fiqh and Qawaid Fiqhiyyah: Shariah and Islamic Banking For such convictions, this essay explores the concept of Usul Fiqh and Qawaid Fiqhiyyah in respect to issues regarding the influence of Shariah on Islamic banking practices Under the Islamic community, Fiqh is a terminology […]
• Online Banking and Online Purchases The ethical implications of online banking and online shopping include the privacy of consumer information, the reliability of the transactions, and security.
• Tesla Inc.’s Banking Structure and Investments According to Saberi, it represents almost 4% of the world GDP, and, in the context of developed economies, 1% of automotive industry growth triggers respective 1,5% growth in the country’s GDP. Due to the specificity […]
• Leadership at Qatar National Bank This paper examines in detail the phenomenon of leadership and its classic types in the light of improving the overall effectiveness of the work team.
• The Mountain Bank’s Strategy Analysis The most suitable competitive business strategy, in the case of the Mountain Bank is to build the presence in the market of consumer lending and corporate banking.
• Bank of America’s Business Model Elements The organizational structure leverages Bank of America in the following ways. Bank of America has categorized its throughputs into five categories, which are the core products, processes, and services offered.
• The Pros and Cons of Investment Banking The investment banks are also referred to as proprietors since they are involved in trading of marketable instruments using their own money as opposed to that of investors.
• Service Quality Model in Internet Banking and Finance The purpose of this paper is to undertake a comparative literature using five peer-reviewed articles discussing service quality in internet banking and finance and identify the main issues in the articles and relates them to […]
• Ethics in the Banking Industry in the UK It may be argued that organizations may require ethics as the part of their practices in the industry, but it may not be the essential or core part in any institution, specifically in the organizations […]
• Competitive Advantage Source: Westpac Banking Corporation The competence of the company is the result of learning and searching for better solutions in this or that situation either in domestic affairs or in the market.
• The Shift From Physical Personal Banking to Online Banking I have chosen the topic “Investigation of how the Shift from Physical Personal Banking to Online Banking has affected Consumers” because online banking has made it easier to shop by eliminating the need to carry […]
• The Implications of Internet-Banking on Bank Profitability Centeno notes that “through the analysis of the Acceding and Candidate Countries, by adopting internet-banking, it demonstrates that lack of PC and penetration of internet services is an obstruction to the advancement of internet banking […]
• Safaricom’s Mobile Banking When Safaricom launched M-PESA, it commissioned agents in different parts of the country; the agent’s work was primarily to receive deposits from customers and electronically transfer this to the client’s M-PESA account.
• Islamic Banking The involvement of institutions and government led to the application of theory to practice and resulted in the establishment of the Islamic banks”.
• Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation: Approach to Operating in China According to Luthan and Doh, centralization played a significant role in HSBC’s success in the new market. It was also the first company to establish a locally incorporated entity in Taiwan and Vietnam.
• The Bank of America Corporation: Planning & Organizational Analysis The Bank may use environmental adaptation planning activities to enhance external relations with stakeholders such as customers, governments, suppliers and the public.
• Money and Banking: General Information The essay gives the definition of money and gives a brief description of the functions of money. As a store of value, money can be saved reliably and then retrieved in the future.
• Standard Chartered Bank: Problems and Solutions The Standard Chartered Bank was formed in 1969 after the merger of two banks The Standard Bank of British South Africa, established in 1862, and The Chartered Bank of India, Australia, and China established in […]
• Banking Sector Cyber Wars and International Hacking Flaws in the network allow hackers to access the systems. In efforts to reduce hacking in the country, a number of police units have been formed.
• Market Elasticity’s in Banking Industry Price elasticity of markets “refers to the degree of change in quantity demanded or supplied of a commodity due to a change in price of the commodity” The formula is: P.E.
• Islamic Banking Sector Issues The key aspects of the Islamic banks in the region are the profit and loss sharing, transparent dealing, lack of interest, lack of speculation and no gambling.
• The Lebanese-Canadian Bank’s Money Laundering The bank was later banned from using the dollar by the American treasury; this resulted in the collapse and eventual sale of the bank.L.C.B.had to pay a settlement fine of one hundred and two million […]
• Ethical Dilemma With the Bank Teller On the other hand, the bank calls for honesty in service and client protection, and given that the teller took the money without permission from an inactive account belonging to a customer it is professionally […]
• Personal and Organizational Development in Banking My career plan is as in the figure below: – My career goal is to find a job in a bank and gradually grow through the ranks as I gain financial management related skills and […]
• The Wall Street Crash Impact on the World’s Banking System The Wall Street Crash of 1929 was one of the most impactful events in the financial history of the United States that also influenced the flow of the global banking operations.
• Ijtihad in Islamic Banking Even though Shariah principles forms the main legal foundation in which most of Islamic banking products and services are based, Ijtihad enables the flexibility of the Shariah principles to suit the changing needs of the […]
• Corporate Governance Statements: BHP Billiton and National Australia Bank This is to say that corporate governance requirements differ from company to company and from a broader perspective, the success or failure of a given company differs with the corporate governance statement of the company.
• The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the factors that led to movement from Basel II to Basel III, features of Basel III and how it differs from Basel II.
• Mobile Banking Innovation In the mobile industry, mobile banking is one of the recent innovations that have influenced the operations of the telephone/mobile phone industry positively.
• Money: Evolution, Functions, and Characteristics It acts as medium of exchange where it is accepted by both buyers and sellers; the buyer gives money to the seller in exchange of commodities.
• Unremunerated Reserve Requirement Policy: Central Bank of Thailand Under the impact of the World War II, the government of Thailand upgraded the status of the Bureau to that of a central bank by passing the Bank of Thailand Act in the year 1942.
• The Employee Benefits Provided by the Bank of America In the process of applying for a job or assessing a certain company, it is crucial to learn about their advantages and unique features. In conclusion, Bank of America features various benefits that provide employees […]
• Legal Issues in the Banking Industry The second problem is the complexity of banking operations for foreigners and the low-educated segments of the population. Thus, in banking, employees often face the problems of sexual harassment, complex mechanisms for clients, and digitalization.
• Cryptocurrency and Its Impact on the Banking Industry Advanced coding is used to store and transfer cryptocurrency data between the wallet and a public ledger, and encryption is used to confirm transactions.
• Overfitting and Bias-Variance Trade-Off in Banking While the training set represents most of the data, the testing set is used to test accuracy by measuring performance separately in the two separate parts of the data set.
• Impact of Cyber Crime on Internet Banking The paper evaluates a con article on ‘The impact of cybercrime on e-banking’ [1]. H2: Identity theft will have a negative impact on the adoption of electronic banking.
• Digital Trends & Sustainability in Banking It would be accurate to refer to banking as the financial hub of the economy because it is a major industry in the service sector.
• The National Bank of Kuwait’s Improvement However, the constant improvement of technology and the introduction of innovations forced the bank to reconsider its policy and introduce a new system.
• Ransomware in the US Banking Industry The mismatch can lead to a lack of trust and reputational damages. Data pertaining to the business plans and visions can also be accessed, making it vulnerable.
• The Role of Technology in Investment Banking The role of technology in an investment bank is to reduce costs, evaluate opportunities with regard to investment, optimize processes, and manage risks.
• The Discussion of the Bank of England The Bank of England represents a centralized structure that has the right to regulate other banks across the country. This is a basic process that helps the Bank of England maintain a healthy balance between […]
• Interpersonal Leadership Skills in Bank of America However, it is clear that the issue is not the demographics but the inefficient leadership in the company and the lack of interpersonal skills that would make people want to work at Bank of America.
• Big Data Analytics in Central Banking In addition, the rate is integral to the overall cost of living, which parameter is in a cause-and-effect relationship with inflation.
• Workplace Inclusivity at International Bank of Commerce Even if employees of color do not ascribe significance to the unequal distribution of power in the bank, the lack of diversity is evident.
• Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC The discussion takes a general overview of the company, its mission and vision statements, strategic goals, and key objectives. The key objectives Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank wants to realize include: Growing transaction volumes and assets […]
• Banking System: The Brief Analysis This is a fictional story that comes perilously near to the reality about the basic foundations of modern society. The primary objective of this story is to demonstrate reality’s simple math and the existing banking […]
• Bank Pekao S. A.: Performance and Strategy Compared to its peers in Poland, Bank Pekao is uniquely placed as it launched a brokerage house and made practical biometrics technology in the banking industry, contributing heavily to the bank’s assets quality and investment […]
• Financial Analysis of Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait’s main competitors include Commercial Bank of Kuwait SAK, Gulf Bank KSCP, Burgan Bank SAK, and the National Bank of Kuwait.
• Banking Sector of the United Kingdom At the same time, the banking sector of the United Kingdom had to balance between its financial losses and the ability to provide loans and debt-moratoria in order to support the country’s financial stability. In […]
• Case Study of Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Capital From HSBC’s perspective, money laundering represents one of the most significant internal risks due to the worldwide presence, especially in certain economic areas with facilitated financial regulation and considerable economic influence, such as Hong Kong […]
• Risk Factors Affecting Bank Nordik’s Operations and Risk Management Control measures adopted by the firm to manage these risk categories are explored in this investigation and the findings used as a justification for the development of a robust risk management plan.
• The Albilad Capital Bank’s Mission and Vision Since the bank is striving to renew its mission and vision from the start, it is crucial to identify the values and vectors of direction.
• National Australia Bank’s Sustainability Challenges One of the reasons for the success of NAB is the overall strategy of the company, which focuses its capital management on adequacy, efficiency, and flexibility, maintaining the economic balance to support and strengthen the […]
• Aspects of Electronic Banking The significance of our study is in the critical issues of e-banking and the areas of improvement that the banks can eliminate or improve to boost customer satisfaction.
• Alonzo vs. Chase Manhattan Bank, NA Case Study However, the author provides an insight into the matter by claiming that the policy concerning workplace discrimination took a dramatic turn in the early 1960s upon adoption of the Title VII of the Civil Rights […]
• Political Theories and the World Bank Known as ‘power politics’ or means to exercise power World Bank massive financial institution which poorer nations depend on for subsidies Manner of soft power of the richer states contributing to the World Bank […]
• Misconduct in Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services The company was included in the Royal Commission report due to ASL and NM releasing the trustee duties of their funds because of the AMP Group membership.
• Sexual Harassment in Meritor Savings Bank vs. Vinson Case Mechelle Vinson, a defendant and a former employee of the plaintiff bank, filed a lawsuit against the bank and its bank manager Sidney Taylor. Sidney Taylor was the vice president of the bank and the […]
• Considerations in Investment Banking However, to ensure a fruitful outcome, the CFO should choose a qualified and experienced investment banker to represent the facility. Secondly, the selected investment banking firm is expected to act as both a matchmaker and […]
• The Impact of Bank on the Cost of Financial Intermediation Also, since the two variables are not controlled; bank concentration and national institutions, the research argues, however, that the measures of concentration capture the efficient structure theory and market power theories.
• Bank’s Provided Opportunities to Attract Consumers The offers are the following, to choose the credit card which backs cash when the consumer makes an online purchase, the other option is take the credit card which backs cash when the consumer makes […]
• Grameen Bank’s Socially Responsible Innovation The bank targets the poor and marginalized with both financial assistance and information to help them grow. The Grameen Bank has continued to register impeccable performance on the social, economic, and environmental dimensions.
• A Problem in Implementation of CSR in the U.S. Banking Industry Corporate social responsibility is essential in this age of intense globalization and competition – essential for firms to survive in the competition and also important for firms.
• Digitalization of E-Commerce in Bank of Ireland The interview with the Senior Director in the Property Finance division of Corporate Banking, Michael Murray, revealed the importance of the advance of digitalization for the Bank of Ireland. These and other technologies will enable […]
• The 1920 Farrow’s Bank Failure and Its Causes In this context, the company would be resilient to any stresses, and the outcome of the situation may be the opposite.
• Banking: Financial Transaction Risks In that case, even the losses-free termination of the transaction would be a failure since the goal of acquisition would remain unachieved.
• Bahrain Development Bank: Analysis To identify and develop ways of assessing learning at the working station to facilitate the employees’ skills and competencies. To identify ways of integrating training capability and focus on the organizational processes through skills acquisition […]
• ICBC Bank – China: Overview The shifted focus of ICBC’s policy became the major contributor to the growth of the company on the international market and the subsequent cultural changes.
• Customers’ Perceptions of M-Banking To find answers pertaining to the major objectives of the study, the gathered data was analysed using SPSS v.23. An exploratory factor analysis was run to group the existing variables into factors, and also to […]
• “Attitudes Towards Mobile Banking” Article by Sohail & Al-Jabri In the introduction of the article, much background information, an overall evaluation of the situation in the banking industry, and the purposes of the study are discussed.
• The Bank of Toroda: A Stakeholder Approach “Stakeholders are persons, organizations and groups that have to be considered by managers, directors as well as front office workers.”
• Corporate Bias in the World Bank Group’s International Centre The institution judges the Pan Rim case neglecting the El Salvador government’s views, local communities, and the Catholic Church. It does not prioritize the protection of the environment and human rights.
• Alinma Bank Industry Analysis. Case Study The demand for the services is another essential factor that shows the industry is profitable. The presence of many investors in the country shows that the demand for financial services is high.
• Impact of Online Banking on Dubai International Bank DIB has developed t-banking (telephone banking), e-banking (electronic banking) and m-banking (mobile banking) from this trend.
• Phishing Victimization on Internet Banking Awareness Therefore, the study is meant to determine and evaluate consumer susceptibility to e-banking victimization through phishing attacks. Subsequently, the study will be designed to evaluate the effectiveness of phishing victimization training to E-banking consumers.
• ICT: E-Banking and Firm Performance ICT is concerned with storage, retrieval, manipulation and transmission of digital data. ICT involves software, hardware and systems.
• P&G & Royal Bank of Canada’s Securities Valuation The discussion in the paper focuses on the Two-Fund Separation theorem. The discussion also reveals that the asset allocation problem focuses on the allocation of resources between two risky assets.
• Governance Failures in Australian Banking Sector Firstly, executive compensation in the Australian banks was not tied to performance outcomes, and, secondly, the major problem in the CEOs’ conduct was related to the field of ethics.
• Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp and Wells Fargo Speaking of the Income Statement, Wells Fargo wisely divides it into interest income and expense and non-interest income and expense, and this aspect eases the overall calculations of financial ratios.
• Analysis of Al Hilal Bank Launch At the time when Al Hilal was launched, the situation in the world financial system was not favorable. It can be concluded that the banking market at the UAE was not favorable at the time […]
• Noor Bank’s Balance Sheet and Income Statement The bank’s operating income from Islamic banking and sukuk amounted to more than 895 million AED compared to 678 million AED in the previous year.
• Banking Institution and Transaction Regulations In the case of Brittany, it is the duty of the bank to authenticate all transactions on her account. In the process of negotiation, most parties often focus on the substance of the deal and […]
• Bank of America’s Strengths and Weaknesses Interestingly, even non-banking institutions such as Quicken Loans and Leader Bank have started to claim a share of the market held by Bank of America. The root cause of the Bank’s mortgage troubles emanated from […]
• Bank of America’s External Analysis in 2013 Among the major lenders in Massachusetts, for instance, Bank of America was the only bank that recorded a notable decline in the volumes of purchase and refinancing loans relative to other years. Apparently, competition has […]
• Sales Portfolio: A Bank Mortgage and Marketers Although a mortgage has several advantages to both the commercial institution and the customer, it has its share of disadvantages. Many clients are reluctant to take up a mortgage because of the high interest rates.
• Banking With WikiLeaks If Wiki Leaks has the right to be served by a financial institution, the company must ensure that it does not harm the operations of the institution.
• The Essence of the Islamic Banking System Riba of the Quran is called Riba An-Nasiyah and riba of the of Sunnah is called Riba Al Fadl. In the context of Islamic banking system, gharar is excessive uncertainty.
• Factors Effecting Bank – Borrower Relationship in UAE The Middle East region’s banking industry is one of the fastest growing in the world. It is projected that the industry will get even better in the future due to the nature of the business […]
• Bank of China Limited: Overview That said the objective of my effort is to present a report on the Bank of China’s IPO of 2006. This listing was exceptional since it was the only bank of China that had managed […]
• Banking Industry: Successes and Failures These banks are regulated by the federal government and are required to be members of the Federal Reserve. However, these banks are not compelled to be members of the Federal Reserve.
• Mortgages Offered by the RBC Royal Bank From your profile and to the best of my knowledge, I take pride to inform you that we have five financial investment products that best suit you.
• Islamic Banking: Sources and Uses of Funds The major sources of funds include trading, leasing and sharing of the risk and rewards. The sources of funds of the Islamic banks are from deposits.
• Banking and Financial Markets: Asset-Backed-Securities Thus, there are four notable main stages in the process of creating the asset-backed securities and these include: Segregation of assets from originator or seller Creation of a specialized functional vehicle to seize the asset […]
• Analyzing and Managing Systematic Risks in Banking Risk assessment is done to ascertain the nature of task before deciding the strategy of responding to it. Analysis and management of risks requires one to identify the nature of the risk involved.
• Islamic Banking in Dubai and the UAE In an Islamic environment, the approach to financial operations such as the law of contracts, nature of property, interest rates and business transactions is quite different from the rest of the world.
• Deutsch Bank Analysis and Performance Forecast The big bonus for banks came in the form of the Securitization Bill, which gave banks and institutions opportunity to recover from bad debts.
• International Banking: New Basel The combination of the four changes in 2004 intended to speed up off-balance sheet mortgage securitization as the main avenue to drive the revenue together with the share price of banks.
• Barclays Bank: Management Accounting Report This team assists the management in the gathering of information that is unilaterally used in management accounting to address specific challenges in the bank.
• BNP Paribas International Banking Networks In the United States, the bank has a strong presence in the western part of the country, whereas, in Asia, it has fixed a secure and fast-growing business.
• Riyadh Bank: The Historical Financial Analysis By the end of the third quarter of the year 2011, the organization has recorded a 15% increase in its net profit.
• Budgeting of HSBC Bank UAE Branch Looking at their financial statements one will note that they are quite detailed with lots of financial items, which are specific to the bank, and understanding them requires referral to the notes accompanying the financial […]
• Westpac Banking Corporation Analysis and Forecast The entry of foreign banks as well as the building societies which were speedily developing into banks and the emergence of other financial institutions increased competition in the Australian financial market.
• The Analysis of Banorte Bank in Mexico The scrutiny of the bank’s fundamentals and variables of the bank form part of the report. Financial analysis and forecast of the bank’s financial performance is the major objective of the report.
• Case on Private Equity in Saudi American Bank The problem was that the firm’s investment manager was investing for the first time and therefore, he had many questions to ask before he finally made the decision to invest in the company.
• Commercial Banks and the Northern Rock Crisis Bank Roles Prior to the actual analysis of the case of the Northern Rock bank is a brief background that elaborates the scenario of the Northern Rock Bank Crisis.
• Bank (HSBC) and Life Insurance Company (Protective) The report also investigates the profitability of the two companies, the metrics used to measure profitability, variation in the last five years and the reasons for these variations.
• Investment Banking and Operations Management In a steady market, the bank uses the information conveyed in prices of assets to significantly allocate capital resource to the most profitable and ultimate use.
• Investment Banking and Global Operations Management Essentially, banks engage in securitization process to increase their uncertain profit opportunities and also to adjust their asset portfolio Entering into the security markets through the perspective of the original financial institution is of great […]
• Online Banking and Cryptographic Issues A disadvantage of online banking is that it inherently reduces the interaction between banks and their customers and in addition, security is not guaranteed in this type of banking, that is, hackers have a chance […]
• The Failure of Superior Bank The crisis in Superior Bank was associated with the fact that the directors failed to observe and address risky financial management strategies that were followed in the organization, and the regulators did not pay much […]
• Criminal Law & Bankruptcy: Bullard vs. Blue Hills Bank The action by the court caused Bullard to appeal against the decision to the BAP to which the BAP concluded that the denial was not the final.
• Time Value of Money: Choosing Bank for Deposit The value of the money is determined by the rate of return that the bank will offer. The future value of the two banks is $20,000 and $22,000 for bank A and bank B respectively.
• First Citizens Bank’s Financial Income in North Carolina The income analysis pertains to a comparison of the profit, revenue, income and profit of the institution in the recent year for analysis on the position of the company.
• Financial Risk Management in Islamic Banking Ahmed defined Islamic financial as a system of finance based on principles of Islamic banking, and that operates under the ethics of Islamic teaching.
• Finance & Banking: Blades Corporation This is because of the volatility of international currencies and the risk that the changes in the value of the currencies will result in a loss from trade receivables and/ or payables depending on the […]
• The Role and Functions of Law in the Banking Industry The first part provides answers to questions regarding the Cipollone versus Liggett Group case, the second part discusses the role and functions of law in the banking industry, and the third part looks at future […]
• The Crime of Robbing the Big City Bank Combined with eyewitness testimony and video evidence, it can be stated beyond all doubt that Clark was guilty of the crime.
• Citi Bank: Business and Corporate Law The enforces a number of Acts that include the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Investment Company Act of 1940, and the Sarbanes Oxley […]
• The Banking Industry: Brief Analysis They include the open market operations that are meant to regulate the amount of money in the reserve. This is important because it influences the transactions in the other parts of the economy, such as […]
• First Gulf Bank Financial Activity The retail bank consists of accounts, deposits, credit cards, safe deposit lockers, loans and mortgages; the First Gulf Bank is the largest bank in United Arab Emirates with shareholder equity of over AED 20 billion […]
• Forecasting of National Bank of Greece (Nbg Bank) Current liabilities are short term obligations that occur in the course of running the firm and have direct associations with sales.
• Banking Analysis: Review The chart shows a continuous increase, with a few years of drop; but the scale of the chart for the most part is upward. The trend of consolidation comes across in the presentation of the […]
• Islamic Finance and Banking. Basic Islamic Principles The Islamic banks approach to lending is very unconventional in that the bank does not give out the loan to a borrower per se, but instead acquires the asset on behalf of the borrower who […]
• World Bank Mining Industry Forecast Therefore, this document will use the data provided by the bank to give a projection of mining, in a global capacity.
• Corporate Cyber Risk Assessment: Bank of America Arguably, one of the most epic accomplishments of the 21st century was the invention of the computer and the subsequent creation of the internet.
• The Economy: The US Banking System Capital formation refers to the distraction of the economy’s productive capacity for the creation of capital goods which eventually increase the productive capacity in the future.
• Banking Contract and Fiduciary Obligations The paper explores the relationship between a bank and a customer from the perspective of fiduciary obligations of a banking contract.
• Bank Loans and Deposits Role in Saudi Arabia Monetary System The major feature of Islamic banking is confined to the bank’s concept of Profit and Loss Sharing, in this arrangement the banks depositors are strictly speaking not creditors to the bank per se, but rather […]
• Case Analysis on Banking Industry of Germany The globalisation and competition of the banking industry have increased because of the growing importance of banking in the marketplace. The decisions of Basel II and the EU for public sector banking and capital markets […]
• Bank Fraud: Easyloan Bank Ltd and ABC Pty Ltd This is similar to the situation in the US where the office of the Attorney and a section of the Criminal Fraud Department of Justice handles mortgage prosecution cases.
• Solvency Risk and Liquidity Risk of a Bank Differences The aim of this report is to identify the meaning of the solvency risk, liquidity risk, credit risk, dynamic provisioning, and the effective control of the solvency risk besides the problems which the bank encounters […]
• The Banking Crisis of 2007-2010 The role of Credit Rating Agencies in the subprime mortgage-related securities market turmoil was scrutinized by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
• Banco Popular Español and the Saudi Investment Bank In this paper, the analysis of two banks and their risk management will be given: Banco Popular Espa ol S.A.with its abilities to take care of liquidity, credit, and other risks and the Saudi Investment […]
• Comparative Study of Conventional and Islamic Bank Performance in the GCC Segregated by bank group and criterion variable, the correlation-based shortlist of independent variables are as shown in tables 1 to 3 below and overleaf.
• Economic Development as the Key Driver of Global Private Banking and Wealth Management Industry The reverse reality of salient features of wealthy people in different parts of the world is the observation that the vast majority of the populace live in poor and deplorable conditions.
• Bank of America: The Staffing Process The effectiveness of staffs recruited in the bank depends on the ability of the bank to recruit the most suitable employees.
• The Royal Bank of Canada: Investment Analysis and Management As a result, the regional bank grew to a national bank and this success is not only attributed to the strategies of the institution itself but also the role played by the people of Canada […]
• Comparison Between Saudi Hollandi Bank Suk vs. Bank Bonds Besides, another factor is that through investments in such bonds, the investor gains certain amount of ownership in the assets of the company in the extent of his investments, which unfortunately is not possible in […]
• UBS Investment Company in the Swiss Banking Sector The relation of the Swiss banking industry with Swiss economy and the future aspect of investment in the industry are discussed.
• Saudi Banking Industry and Riyad Bank’s Performance In this context this paper analyzes the performance of the Saudi banking sector during the period from 2003 to 2007 in general and that of Riyad Bank, one of the major players in the Saudi […]
• Fransi Bank’s Financial Analysis and Forecast The financial analysis reveals the financial performance of the bank and the key factors that help the bank to be a leading organization in the industry.
• UK Banking Sector Recovery Plan The objective of the analysis is to identify the possible benefits, weaknesses and implications of the plan to the British economy.
• Three Financial Ratios for Stock Investor and Bank However in the stock investor will be looking for a long-term capital gain, the equity debt becomes more important since the stability of the company would be more important than the current liquidity.
• Changes in the UK and US Banking Industry
• Al-Rajhi Bank of Saudi Arabia vs. Dubai Islamic Bank
• The Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority
• Trails to Success: Bank of America
• Performance Evaluation of Al Rajhi Bank
• Ethical Implication of Banking Bailout
• Corporate Security Strategy: Financial Risks in Banking Sector
• Customer Service Improvement Project at Qatar National Bank Evaluation
• Commonwealth Bank and the Bank Technologies
• Theft and Workplace Problems: The Accidental Bank Robbery
• Why Do Banking Policies Need To Keep Up With The Times?
• Chase Bank Company Analysis
• Creditpia’s Banking Sector
• Reforms Necessary in the Banking System
• Lloyds and Northern Rock Bank Buildings Semiotic Analysis
• Goldman Sachs Bank in Economic Turmoil
• HSBC – Criticised Over Their Banking Methods
• Background About Garati Bank in Turkey
• Home Loan Offered by Bank of America Corporation (BAC)
• Total Quality Management in Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank
• CRM Implementation Project for the Bank
• Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank: Corporate Governance Principles
• Bank Reporting System. Guidelines and Rules
• The World Bank: Definition and Activity
• Network Information and Activity Times in Banking Firm
• Business Strategy: Mountain Bank
• Andrew Jackson and the “Bank War”
• Diversity of Employees in the Boston Bank
• Adopting a New IT Strategy in SBI Bank
• Bank of America: Loans
• Kiboko Bank: Business Ethics Issue
• Grameen Bank’s Concertive Control Systems
• Bahrain’s Al Salam Bank’s Offer for Bahraini Saudi Bank
• IMF and World Bank: A Boon or a Bane for Developing Nations?
• Young Depositors and Face-To-Face Banking
• Threat of New Entrants to Commercial Banking Industry
• Oil Pricing and Demand in Connection With the US Banking System Position
• Production & Organization Management in a Refinancing Organization
• “Crossing the Green Line Between the West Bank and Israel” by Avram S. Bornstein
• The Banking Concept of Education
• World Bank – IMF and the United Arab Emirates
• Current Problems of the Banking Industry
• The United States Banking Industry: Economic Profile
• Biometric Scanners in Banking Industry
• Money and Banking. Financial Markets
• “Banking and SME Financing in the United States” Review
• Integration of E-Commerce Websites in Banking Systems
• Global Banking Secrecy Toolkit
• Interstate Banking and Its Beneficiaries
• Banking in Saudi Arabia: Main Facilities, History, and Future
• “Data Mining and Customer Relationship Marketing in the Banking Industry“ by Chye & Gerry
• Kuwait’s Banking Sector Overview
• Competitive Advantage in the Banking Sector
• Global Reputation and Competitive Advantage in Banking
• International Banking System
• Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in Qatar
• Banking and Finance in Australia: Preventing Collapses
• China-US Competition in the Banking Sector
• “A Century of US Central Banking” by Bernanke
• Gambling, Fraud and Security in Banking
• High-Risk Gambles Prevention in Banking
• Corporate Social Responsibility: JPMorgan Chase and Barclays Pls Banking Scandals
• Banking and Risk Management
• Banking Systems Success in Canada and Australia
• Banking and Monetary Policy During Recession of 2008-09
• Dubai Macroenvironmental Analysis for Banking
• Banking: Interest Rates and Credit Creation Process
• Banking in David Ashby’s “Money Mechanics”
• Banking Sector in the State of Kuwait
• International Banking Sector: Financial Regulation
• Kuwait Economy and Corporate Governance in Banking Sector
• Bond Market and Banking in Gulf Countries
• Customer Satisfaction Management in Banking Sector
• Westpac Banking Corporation Risk Management Policy
• Citigroup: Credit Default Swaps in the Banking Industry
• Risk in Banking Internal Control System
• Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation’s Entry Into Japan
• Banking Instability During the Global Financial Crisis
• Satisfaction Management in Banking Industry
• Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Holdings
• Retail Banking Products and Services
• Banking Industry Guidance
• Employee Turnover Rate in UAE Banking Sector
• Islamic Banking: Sales and Lease-Centered Models
• Arbitration in Islamic Banking and Finance Dispute
• Chief Information Officer’s Role in E-Banking
• The Shadow Banking System: Financial Crisis Source
• China Banking Supervision System: Defects and Improvement
• Online Activity of Banking Sector in the UAE
• Operational Risk in Conventional and Online Banking
• UAE Banking Industry’s Status in a Global Context
• Customer Engagement in the Greek Retail Banking Sector
• Landsbanki Banking Analysis and Bank Alternatives
• Kenya as a Leader in Mobile Banking of the World
• Resistance to Change in Banking Orhanisations
• Resistance to Change in the Banking Sector
• Customer Service in the UAE Banking Sector
• Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Management
• Corruption and Ethics in China’s Banking Sector
• Islamic Banking Principles and Relevance
• Islamic Banking: Tools and Techniques
• The Banking Industry and Interest Rates
• Islamic Banking and Financial Markets Critical Issues
• JP Morgan Chase’ Banking Analysis
• Banking Institutions Improvement
• Money’s and Banking’ Concepts
• The Basel Committee Role in Banking
• China’s Banking Sector Analysis
• Greenbelt Banking Company’s Human Resource Management
• Islamic Banking Principles
• Boosting Sales in Retail Banking for 2012
• Banking Regulation and Taxation
• UAE’s Banking Industry Analysis
• Money and Banking: The Economic Recession of 2007
• The Russian Banking Sector
• The Use of CRM in Australian Banking Industry
• Money and Banking: David S. Ashby’s Perspective
• Sustainable Development: The Banking Sector
• Big Four: Banking in China
• Banking Credit Risk Management
• How to Keep Customers Loyal to Online Banking
• Banks, Bank Firms and Financial Intermediaries
• Market-Based Versus Bank-Based Financial Systems
• Bank Mergers and Cost of Capital
• Managing People in the Bank of America
• Projected Customers Maintaining Strategies in Banking Industry
• The Banking Industry in the United Arab Emirates
• IPScape in the Australian Banking Sector
• Bonus Banking: Case of UBS
• Crossvergence in the Banking Industry
• Ameribank and Online Banking
• Benchmarking in the Investment and Banking Sector
• Overcoming the Debt Crisis by European Banking Sector
• National Bank of Kuwait: Employee Appraisal Problem
• An Investigation of the Sustainable Benefits of Agency Banking in Kenya
• HSBC Bank’s Kenyan Entry Strategy
• Bank of America and Silver A-Plus Card
• An Evaluation of the Economic Issues Identified in the ICB Report on Banking
• Comparison of the United States and Saudi Arabian Banking Sector
• Crisis in the Banking System of Korea
• Financial Industry Analysis on MCU Sustainable Banking
• Problems in Banking Regulation
• Central Banking and the Money Supply
• The Different Roles Played By the Central Bank, Depository Institutions, and Depositors in the Determination of Money Supply
• The UK Banking Practice That Led to Financial Crisis
• Is Bonus Banking the Answer?
• Human Resource Management at the Bank Alfalah
• Bank of America: Realizing Servant Leadership
• A Marketing Research on Mobile Banking
• The Too Big to Fail Phenomena in the Banking Sector
• A Report on Customer Driven Marketing Strategy for Easy-Pay Mobile Banking Service
• HSBC Holdings: Chinese Banking Sector
• RBS Citizen Bank Culture and Change
• Federal Reserve; Money and Banking
• Employee Motivation Factors in Banking
• Crisis Management: Online Banking Security Breach
• Mobile Banking in Saudi Arabia: Towards Understanding the Factors that Affects the Sector
• Société Générale Bank: Effective Security Controls
• Banking Industry Analysis
• The History of U.S. Banking Crises: Cause and Effect
• What Is Current Research in Money and Banking?
• What Is the Study of Money and Banking?
• What Are the Advantages of Banking?
• U.S. Money and Banking: What Is the Key Issue Facing Us?
• What Are the Main Topics of Money and Banking?
• What Is the Best Research Topic in Money and Banking?
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McKinsey Global Private Markets Review 2024: Private markets in a slower era

At a glance, macroeconomic challenges continued.

McKinsey Global Private Markets Review 2024: Private markets: A slower era

If 2022 was a tale of two halves, with robust fundraising and deal activity in the first six months followed by a slowdown in the second half, then 2023 might be considered a tale of one whole. Macroeconomic headwinds persisted throughout the year, with rising financing costs, and an uncertain growth outlook taking a toll on private markets. Full-year fundraising continued to decline from 2021’s lofty peak, weighed down by the “denominator effect” that persisted in part due to a less active deal market. Managers largely held onto assets to avoid selling in a lower-multiple environment, fueling an activity-dampening cycle in which distribution-starved limited partners (LPs) reined in new commitments.

About the authors

This article is a summary of a larger report, available as a PDF, that is a collaborative effort by Fredrik Dahlqvist , Alastair Green , Paul Maia, Alexandra Nee , David Quigley , Aditya Sanghvi , Connor Mangan, John Spivey, Rahel Schneider, and Brian Vickery , representing views from McKinsey’s Private Equity & Principal Investors Practice.

Performance in most private asset classes remained below historical averages for a second consecutive year. Decade-long tailwinds from low and falling interest rates and consistently expanding multiples seem to be things of the past. As private market managers look to boost performance in this new era of investing, a deeper focus on revenue growth and margin expansion will be needed now more than ever.

Perspectives on a slower era in private markets

Global fundraising contracted.

Fundraising fell 22 percent across private market asset classes globally to just over $1 trillion, as of year-end reported data—the lowest total since 2017. Fundraising in North America, a rare bright spot in 2022, declined in line with global totals, while in Europe, fundraising proved most resilient, falling just 3 percent. In Asia, fundraising fell precipitously and now sits 72 percent below the region’s 2018 peak.

Despite difficult fundraising conditions, headwinds did not affect all strategies or managers equally. Private equity (PE) buyout strategies posted their best fundraising year ever, and larger managers and vehicles also fared well, continuing the prior year’s trend toward greater fundraising concentration.

The numerator effect persisted

Despite a marked recovery in the denominator—the 1,000 largest US retirement funds grew 7 percent in the year ending September 2023, after falling 14 percent the prior year, for example 1 “U.S. retirement plans recover half of 2022 losses amid no-show recession,” Pensions and Investments , February 12, 2024. —many LPs remain overexposed to private markets relative to their target allocations. LPs started 2023 overweight: according to analysis from CEM Benchmarking, average allocations across PE, infrastructure, and real estate were at or above target allocations as of the beginning of the year. And the numerator grew throughout the year, as a lack of exits and rebounding valuations drove net asset values (NAVs) higher. While not all LPs strictly follow asset allocation targets, our analysis in partnership with global private markets firm StepStone Group suggests that an overallocation of just one percentage point can reduce planned commitments by as much as 10 to 12 percent per year for five years or more.

Despite these headwinds, recent surveys indicate that LPs remain broadly committed to private markets. In fact, the majority plan to maintain or increase allocations over the medium to long term.

Investors fled to known names and larger funds

Fundraising concentration reached its highest level in over a decade, as investors continued to shift new commitments in favor of the largest fund managers. The 25 most successful fundraisers collected 41 percent of aggregate commitments to closed-end funds (with the top five managers accounting for nearly half that total). Closed-end fundraising totals may understate the extent of concentration in the industry overall, as the largest managers also tend to be more successful in raising non-institutional capital.

While the largest funds grew even larger—the largest vehicles on record were raised in buyout, real estate, infrastructure, and private debt in 2023—smaller and newer funds struggled. Fewer than 1,700 funds of less than $1 billion were closed during the year, half as many as closed in 2022 and the fewest of any year since 2012. New manager formation also fell to the lowest level since 2012, with just 651 new firms launched in 2023.

Whether recent fundraising concentration and a spate of M&A activity signals the beginning of oft-rumored consolidation in the private markets remains uncertain, as a similar pattern developed in each of the last two fundraising downturns before giving way to renewed entrepreneurialism among general partners (GPs) and commitment diversification among LPs. Compared with how things played out in the last two downturns, perhaps this movie really is different, or perhaps we’re watching a trilogy reusing a familiar plotline.

Dry powder inventory spiked (again)

Private markets assets under management totaled $13.1 trillion as of June 30, 2023, and have grown nearly 20 percent per annum since 2018. Dry powder reserves—the amount of capital committed but not yet deployed—increased to $3.7 trillion, marking the ninth consecutive year of growth. Dry powder inventory—the amount of capital available to GPs expressed as a multiple of annual deployment—increased for the second consecutive year in PE, as new commitments continued to outpace deal activity. Inventory sat at 1.6 years in 2023, up markedly from the 0.9 years recorded at the end of 2021 but still within the historical range. NAV grew as well, largely driven by the reluctance of managers to exit positions and crystallize returns in a depressed multiple environment.

Private equity strategies diverged

Buyout and venture capital, the two largest PE sub-asset classes, charted wildly different courses over the past 18 months. Buyout notched its highest fundraising year ever in 2023, and its performance improved, with funds posting a (still paltry) 5 percent net internal rate of return through September 30. And although buyout deal volumes declined by 19 percent, 2023 was still the third-most-active year on record. In contrast, venture capital (VC) fundraising declined by nearly 60 percent, equaling its lowest total since 2015, and deal volume fell by 36 percent to the lowest level since 2019. VC funds returned –3 percent through September, posting negative returns for seven consecutive quarters. VC was the fastest-growing—as well as the highest-performing—PE strategy by a significant margin from 2010 to 2022, but investors appear to be reevaluating their approach in the current environment.

Private equity entry multiples contracted

PE buyout entry multiples declined by roughly one turn from 11.9 to 11.0 times EBITDA, slightly outpacing the decline in public market multiples (down from 12.1 to 11.3 times EBITDA), through the first nine months of 2023. For nearly a decade leading up to 2022, managers consistently sold assets into a higher-multiple environment than that in which they had bought those assets, providing a substantial performance tailwind for the industry. Nowhere has this been truer than in technology. After experiencing more than eight turns of multiple expansion from 2009 to 2021 (the most of any sector), technology multiples have declined by nearly three turns in the past two years, 50 percent more than in any other sector. Overall, roughly two-thirds of the total return for buyout deals that were entered in 2010 or later and exited in 2021 or before can be attributed to market multiple expansion and leverage. Now, with falling multiples and higher financing costs, revenue growth and margin expansion are taking center stage for GPs.

Real estate receded

Demand uncertainty, slowing rent growth, and elevated financing costs drove cap rates higher and made price discovery challenging, all of which weighed on deal volume, fundraising, and investment performance. Global closed-end fundraising declined 34 percent year over year, and funds returned −4 percent in the first nine months of the year, losing money for the first time since the 2007–08 global financial crisis. Capital shifted away from core and core-plus strategies as investors sought liquidity via redemptions in open-end vehicles, from which net outflows reached their highest level in at least two decades. Opportunistic strategies benefited from this shift, with investors focusing on capital appreciation over income generation in a market where alternative sources of yield have grown more attractive. Rising interest rates widened bid–ask spreads and impaired deal volume across food groups, including in what were formerly hot sectors: multifamily and industrial.

Private debt pays dividends

Debt again proved to be the most resilient private asset class against a turbulent market backdrop. Fundraising declined just 13 percent, largely driven by lower commitments to direct lending strategies, for which a slower PE deal environment has made capital deployment challenging. The asset class also posted the highest returns among all private asset classes through September 30. Many private debt securities are tied to floating rates, which enhance returns in a rising-rate environment. Thus far, managers appear to have successfully navigated the rising incidence of default and distress exhibited across the broader leveraged-lending market. Although direct lending deal volume declined from 2022, private lenders financed an all-time high 59 percent of leveraged buyout transactions last year and are now expanding into additional strategies to drive the next era of growth.

Infrastructure took a detour

After several years of robust growth and strong performance, infrastructure and natural resources fundraising declined by 53 percent to the lowest total since 2013. Supply-side timing is partially to blame: five of the seven largest infrastructure managers closed a flagship vehicle in 2021 or 2022, and none of those five held a final close last year. As in real estate, investors shied away from core and core-plus investments in a higher-yield environment. Yet there are reasons to believe infrastructure’s growth will bounce back. Limited partners (LPs) surveyed by McKinsey remain bullish on their deployment to the asset class, and at least a dozen vehicles targeting more than $10 billion were actively fundraising as of the end of 2023. Multiple recent acquisitions of large infrastructure GPs by global multi-asset-class managers also indicate marketwide conviction in the asset class’s potential.

Private markets still have work to do on diversity

Private markets firms are slowly improving their representation of females (up two percentage points over the prior year) and ethnic and racial minorities (up one percentage point). On some diversity metrics, including entry-level representation of women, private markets now compare favorably with corporate America. Yet broad-based parity remains elusive and too slow in the making. Ethnic, racial, and gender imbalances are particularly stark across more influential investing roles and senior positions. In fact, McKinsey’s research  reveals that at the current pace, it would take several decades for private markets firms to reach gender parity at senior levels. Increasing representation across all levels will require managers to take fresh approaches to hiring, retention, and promotion.

Artificial intelligence generating excitement

The transformative potential of generative AI was perhaps 2023’s hottest topic (beyond Taylor Swift). Private markets players are excited about the potential for the technology to optimize their approach to thesis generation, deal sourcing, investment due diligence, and portfolio performance, among other areas. While the technology is still nascent and few GPs can boast scaled implementations, pilot programs are already in flight across the industry, particularly within portfolio companies. Adoption seems nearly certain to accelerate throughout 2024.

Private markets in a slower era

If private markets investors entered 2023 hoping for a return to the heady days of 2021, they likely left the year disappointed. Many of the headwinds that emerged in the latter half of 2022 persisted throughout the year, pressuring fundraising, dealmaking, and performance. Inflation moderated somewhat over the course of the year but remained stubbornly elevated by recent historical standards. Interest rates started high and rose higher, increasing the cost of financing. A reinvigorated public equity market recovered most of 2022’s losses but did little to resolve the valuation uncertainty private market investors have faced for the past 18 months.

Within private markets, the denominator effect remained in play, despite the public market recovery, as the numerator continued to expand. An activity-dampening cycle emerged: higher cost of capital and lower multiples limited the ability or willingness of general partners (GPs) to exit positions; fewer exits, coupled with continuing capital calls, pushed LP allocations higher, thereby limiting their ability or willingness to make new commitments. These conditions weighed on managers’ ability to fundraise. Based on data reported as of year-end 2023, private markets fundraising fell 22 percent from the prior year to just over $1 trillion, the largest such drop since 2009 (Exhibit 1).

The impact of the fundraising environment was not felt equally among GPs. Continuing a trend that emerged in 2022, and consistent with prior downturns in fundraising, LPs favored larger vehicles and the scaled GPs that typically manage them. Smaller and newer managers struggled, and the number of sub–$1 billion vehicles and new firm launches each declined to its lowest level in more than a decade.

Despite the decline in fundraising, private markets assets under management (AUM) continued to grow, increasing 12 percent to $13.1 trillion as of June 30, 2023. 2023 fundraising was still the sixth-highest annual haul on record, pushing dry powder higher, while the slowdown in deal making limited distributions.

Investment performance across private market asset classes fell short of historical averages. Private equity (PE) got back in the black but generated the lowest annual performance in the past 15 years, excluding 2022. Closed-end real estate produced negative returns for the first time since 2009, as capitalization (cap) rates expanded across sectors and rent growth dissipated in formerly hot sectors, including multifamily and industrial. The performance of infrastructure funds was less than half of its long-term average and even further below the double-digit returns generated in 2021 and 2022. Private debt was the standout performer (if there was one), outperforming all other private asset classes and illustrating the asset class’s countercyclical appeal.

Private equity down but not out

Higher financing costs, lower multiples, and an uncertain macroeconomic environment created a challenging backdrop for private equity managers in 2023. Fundraising declined for the second year in a row, falling 15 percent to $649 billion, as LPs grappled with the denominator effect and a slowdown in distributions. Managers were on the fundraising trail longer to raise this capital: funds that closed in 2023 were open for a record-high average of 20.1 months, notably longer than 18.7 months in 2022 and 14.1 months in 2018. VC and growth equity strategies led the decline, dropping to their lowest level of cumulative capital raised since 2015. Fundraising in Asia fell for the fourth year of the last five, with the greatest decline in China.

Despite the difficult fundraising context, a subset of strategies and managers prevailed. Buyout managers collectively had their best fundraising year on record, raising more than $400 billion. Fundraising in Europe surged by more than 50 percent, resulting in the region’s biggest haul ever. The largest managers raised an outsized share of the total for a second consecutive year, making 2023 the most concentrated fundraising year of the last decade (Exhibit 2).

Despite the drop in aggregate fundraising, PE assets under management increased 8 percent to $8.2 trillion. Only a small part of this growth was performance driven: PE funds produced a net IRR of just 2.5 percent through September 30, 2023. Buyouts and growth equity generated positive returns, while VC lost money. PE performance, dating back to the beginning of 2022, remains negative, highlighting the difficulty of generating attractive investment returns in a higher interest rate and lower multiple environment. As PE managers devise value creation strategies to improve performance, their focus includes ensuring operating efficiency and profitability of their portfolio companies.

Deal activity volume and count fell sharply, by 21 percent and 24 percent, respectively, which continued the slower pace set in the second half of 2022. Sponsors largely opted to hold assets longer rather than lock in underwhelming returns. While higher financing costs and valuation mismatches weighed on overall deal activity, certain types of M&A gained share. Add-on deals, for example, accounted for a record 46 percent of total buyout deal volume last year.

Real estate recedes

For real estate, 2023 was a year of transition, characterized by a litany of new and familiar challenges. Pandemic-driven demand issues continued, while elevated financing costs, expanding cap rates, and valuation uncertainty weighed on commercial real estate deal volumes, fundraising, and investment performance.

Managers faced one of the toughest fundraising environments in many years. Global closed-end fundraising declined 34 percent to $125 billion. While fundraising challenges were widespread, they were not ubiquitous across strategies. Dollars continued to shift to large, multi-asset class platforms, with the top five managers accounting for 37 percent of aggregate closed-end real estate fundraising. In April, the largest real estate fund ever raised closed on a record $30 billion.

Capital shifted away from core and core-plus strategies as investors sought liquidity through redemptions in open-end vehicles and reduced gross contributions to the lowest level since 2009. Opportunistic strategies benefited from this shift, as investors turned their attention toward capital appreciation over income generation in a market where alternative sources of yield have grown more attractive.

In the United States, for instance, open-end funds, as represented by the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries Fund Index—Open-End Equity (NFI-OE), recorded $13 billion in net outflows in 2023, reversing the trend of positive net inflows throughout the 2010s. The negative flows mainly reflected $9 billion in core outflows, with core-plus funds accounting for the remaining outflows, which reversed a 20-year run of net inflows.

As a result, the NAV in US open-end funds fell roughly 16 percent year over year. Meanwhile, global assets under management in closed-end funds reached a new peak of $1.7 trillion as of June 2023, growing 14 percent between June 2022 and June 2023.

Real estate underperformed historical averages in 2023, as previously high-performing multifamily and industrial sectors joined office in producing negative returns caused by slowing demand growth and cap rate expansion. Closed-end funds generated a pooled net IRR of −3.5 percent in the first nine months of 2023, losing money for the first time since the global financial crisis. The lone bright spot among major sectors was hospitality, which—thanks to a rush of postpandemic travel—returned 10.3 percent in 2023. 2 Based on NCREIFs NPI index. Hotels represent 1 percent of total properties in the index. As a whole, the average pooled lifetime net IRRs for closed-end real estate funds from 2011–20 vintages remained around historical levels (9.8 percent).

Global deal volume declined 47 percent in 2023 to reach a ten-year low of $650 billion, driven by widening bid–ask spreads amid valuation uncertainty and higher costs of financing (Exhibit 3). 3 CBRE, Real Capital Analytics Deal flow in the office sector remained depressed, partly as a result of continued uncertainty in the demand for space in a hybrid working world.

During a turbulent year for private markets, private debt was a relative bright spot, topping private markets asset classes in terms of fundraising growth, AUM growth, and performance.

Fundraising for private debt declined just 13 percent year over year, nearly ten percentage points less than the private markets overall. Despite the decline in fundraising, AUM surged 27 percent to $1.7 trillion. And private debt posted the highest investment returns of any private asset class through the first three quarters of 2023.

Private debt’s risk/return characteristics are well suited to the current environment. With interest rates at their highest in more than a decade, current yields in the asset class have grown more attractive on both an absolute and relative basis, particularly if higher rates sustain and put downward pressure on equity returns (Exhibit 4). The built-in security derived from debt’s privileged position in the capital structure, moreover, appeals to investors that are wary of market volatility and valuation uncertainty.

Direct lending continued to be the largest strategy in 2023, with fundraising for the mostly-senior-debt strategy accounting for almost half of the asset class’s total haul (despite declining from the previous year). Separately, mezzanine debt fundraising hit a new high, thanks to the closings of three of the largest funds ever raised in the strategy.

Over the longer term, growth in private debt has largely been driven by institutional investors rotating out of traditional fixed income in favor of private alternatives. Despite this growth in commitments, LPs remain underweight in this asset class relative to their targets. In fact, the allocation gap has only grown wider in recent years, a sharp contrast to other private asset classes, for which LPs’ current allocations exceed their targets on average. According to data from CEM Benchmarking, the private debt allocation gap now stands at 1.4 percent, which means that, in aggregate, investors must commit hundreds of billions in net new capital to the asset class just to reach current targets.

Private debt was not completely immune to the macroeconomic conditions last year, however. Fundraising declined for the second consecutive year and now sits 23 percent below 2021’s peak. Furthermore, though private lenders took share in 2023 from other capital sources, overall deal volumes also declined for the second year in a row. The drop was largely driven by a less active PE deal environment: private debt is predominantly used to finance PE-backed companies, though managers are increasingly diversifying their origination capabilities to include a broad new range of companies and asset types.

Infrastructure and natural resources take a detour

For infrastructure and natural resources fundraising, 2023 was an exceptionally challenging year. Aggregate capital raised declined 53 percent year over year to $82 billion, the lowest annual total since 2013. The size of the drop is particularly surprising in light of infrastructure’s recent momentum. The asset class had set fundraising records in four of the previous five years, and infrastructure is often considered an attractive investment in uncertain markets.

While there is little doubt that the broader fundraising headwinds discussed elsewhere in this report affected infrastructure and natural resources fundraising last year, dynamics specific to the asset class were at play as well. One issue was supply-side timing: nine of the ten largest infrastructure GPs did not close a flagship fund in 2023. Second was the migration of investor dollars away from core and core-plus investments, which have historically accounted for the bulk of infrastructure fundraising, in a higher rate environment.

The asset class had some notable bright spots last year. Fundraising for higher-returning opportunistic strategies more than doubled the prior year’s total (Exhibit 5). AUM grew 18 percent, reaching a new high of $1.5 trillion. Infrastructure funds returned a net IRR of 3.4 percent in 2023; this was below historical averages but still the second-best return among private asset classes. And as was the case in other asset classes, investors concentrated commitments in larger funds and managers in 2023, including in the largest infrastructure fund ever raised.

The outlook for the asset class, moreover, remains positive. Funds targeting a record amount of capital were in the market at year-end, providing a robust foundation for fundraising in 2024 and 2025. A recent spate of infrastructure GP acquisitions signal multi-asset managers’ long-term conviction in the asset class, despite short-term headwinds. Global megatrends like decarbonization and digitization, as well as revolutions in energy and mobility, have spurred new infrastructure investment opportunities around the world, particularly for value-oriented investors that are willing to take on more risk.

Private markets make measured progress in DEI

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) has become an important part of the fundraising, talent, and investing landscape for private market participants. Encouragingly, incremental progress has been made in recent years, including more diverse talent being brought to entry-level positions, investing roles, and investment committees. The scope of DEI metrics provided to institutional investors during fundraising has also increased in recent years: more than half of PE firms now provide data across investing teams, portfolio company boards, and portfolio company management (versus investment team data only). 4 “ The state of diversity in global private markets: 2023 ,” McKinsey, August 22, 2023.

In 2023, McKinsey surveyed 66 global private markets firms that collectively employ more than 60,000 people for the second annual State of diversity in global private markets report. 5 “ The state of diversity in global private markets: 2023 ,” McKinsey, August 22, 2023. The research offers insight into the representation of women and ethnic and racial minorities in private investing as of year-end 2022. In this chapter, we discuss where the numbers stand and how firms can bring a more diverse set of perspectives to the table.

The statistics indicate signs of modest advancement. Overall representation of women in private markets increased two percentage points to 35 percent, and ethnic and racial minorities increased one percentage point to 30 percent (Exhibit 6). Entry-level positions have nearly reached gender parity, with female representation at 48 percent. The share of women holding C-suite roles globally increased 3 percentage points, while the share of people from ethnic and racial minorities in investment committees increased 9 percentage points. There is growing evidence that external hiring is gradually helping close the diversity gap, especially at senior levels. For example, 33 percent of external hires at the managing director level were ethnic or racial minorities, higher than their existing representation level (19 percent).

Yet, the scope of the challenge remains substantial. Women and minorities continue to be underrepresented in senior positions and investing roles. They also experience uneven rates of progress due to lower promotion and higher attrition rates, particularly at smaller firms. Firms are also navigating an increasingly polarized workplace today, with additional scrutiny and a growing number of lawsuits against corporate diversity and inclusion programs, particularly in the US, which threatens to impact the industry’s pace of progress.

Fredrik Dahlqvist is a senior partner in McKinsey’s Stockholm office; Alastair Green  is a senior partner in the Washington, DC, office, where Paul Maia and Alexandra Nee  are partners; David Quigley  is a senior partner in the New York office, where Connor Mangan is an associate partner and Aditya Sanghvi  is a senior partner; Rahel Schneider is an associate partner in the Bay Area office; John Spivey is a partner in the Charlotte office; and Brian Vickery  is a partner in the Boston office.

The authors wish to thank Jonathan Christy, Louis Dufau, Vaibhav Gujral, Graham Healy-Day, Laura Johnson, Ryan Luby, Tripp Norton, Alastair Rami, Henri Torbey, and Alex Wolkomir for their contributions

The authors would also like to thank CEM Benchmarking and the StepStone Group for their partnership in this year's report.

This article was edited by Arshiya Khullar, an editor in the Gurugram office.

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The Body Shop’s administrators are to launch an auction of the chain after concluding that an alternative restructuring of one of Britain’s best-known high street retailers was not viable.

Sky News has learnt that FRP Advisory, which has been overseeing the collapsed business since January, is to begin formally sounding out potential buyers in the coming weeks.

The move raises the prospect of new owners taking control of The Body Shop, which was founded nearly half a century ago.

Read more here ...

The UK's mega rich are dwindling - in a sign Britain's "billionaire boom has come to an end", according to the latest Sunday Times Rich List.

Published today, the list reveals the largest fall in billionaires in the guide's history - from a peak of 177 in 2022 to 165 this year.

While the combined wealth of the list's 350 wealthiest individuals amounts to more than £795bn - larger than the GDP of Poland - the guide's compiler says time will tell what impact a drop in billionaires could have.

"This year's Sunday Times Rich List suggests Britain's billionaire boom has come to an end," Robert Watts said.

"Many of our home-grown entrepreneurs have seen their fortunes fall and some of the global super rich who came here are moving away."

Top of the list is British-Indian businessman Gopi Hinduja and his family, whose wealth of £37.2bn is the largest fortune in the ranking's history.

But other familiar names in the list saw their riches fall, with Sir Richard Branson's total dropping by £2.4bn, which is back to his 2000 level.

Last year's top climber Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who bought a stake in Manchester United this year, fell two positions with a decline of £6.1bn.

Euan Blair, Tony Blair's eldest son, made the list for the first time, as did Sir Lewis Hamilton.

It comes as the UK continues to deal with a cost-of-living crisis, with new figures this week revealing a record 3.1 million food bank parcels were distributed over the course of a year.

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A group of social media influencers have been charged in relation to promoting an unauthorised investment scheme.

The Only Way Is Essex (TOWIE) original cast member Lauren Goodger, 37, former Love Island star Biggs Chris, 32, and Celebrity Big Brother winner Scott Timlin, 36, also known as Scotty T, are among seven TV personalities alleged to have been paid to promote the scheme to their combined 4.5 million Instagram followers.

The others charged by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) include former Love Islanders Rebecca Gormley, 26, Jamie Clayton, 32, and Eva Zapico, 25 and TOWIE member Yazmin Oukhellou, 30.

The UK's financial watchdog brought the charges in a crackdown on "finfluencers" who use their online platforms to offer advice and information on various financial topics.

It alleges that between 19 May 2018 and 13 April 2021 Emmanuel Nwanze, 30, and Holly Thompson, 33, used an Instagram account to provide advice on buying and selling investments known as contracts for difference (CFDs) when they were not authorised to do so.

The watchdog said CFDs were high-risk investments used to bet on the price of an asset, in this case the price of foreign currencies.

It previously warned that 80% of customers lost money when investing in CDFs.

Mr Nwanze has been charged with running the scheme. He faces one count of breaching the general prohibition of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, and one count of unauthorised communications of financial promotions.

Ms Thompson, Mr Chris, Mr Clayton, Ms Goodger, Ms Gormley, Ms Oukhellou, Mr Timlin and Ms Zapico each face one count of unauthorised communications of financial promotions.

All nine will appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on 13 June.

The FCA asked anyone who believed they had sustained a loss due to the scheme to contact its consumer contact centre.

A hotel part-owned by Gary Neville and other ex-Manchester United legends has been named one of the best places to work in hospitality. 

Each year, The Caterer releases its top 30 best places for employees in the sector, with the top six featuring some familiar names.

The list is compiled via anonymous employee survey - with no input from managers or owners. 

Hotel Football, the only hotel with a rooftop five-a-side pitch, was among the top six venues selected by employees across the UK. 

The hotel's benefits package was particularly well-praised by those who work there - given that it "prioritises the financial wellbeing of employees during the cost of living challenge".

Management at the hotel, which is situated next to Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium, was also praised for enhanced maternity, paternity, parental and adoption leave policies and a strong belief in diversity and inclusion. 

The other five to make up the top six are The Biltmore in Mayfair, Cycas Hospitality (which has 18 locations across the UK), Dalata (which boasts some 1,000 employees), Gleneagles Hotel in Edinburgh and Nobu Hotel in Shoreditch, London. 

The energy price cap is set to fall by about 7% in July, a leading thinktank has said. 

Cornwall Insights said: "For a typical dual fuel household, we predict the July price cap to be £1,574 per annum" - a drop from £1,690.

Looking further ahead, it forecasted the cap to rise again slightly in October, before falling again in January next year. 

Reacting to the news, Uswitch said the predicted drop was "clearly good news". 

"The future still remains uncertain, and with the price cap changing every three months – currently expected to rise in October before falling slightly in January –  it's crucial not to be complacent," Richard Neudegg, director of regulation, said. 

However, "a predicted 7% drop in energy prices in July is clearly good news, with the price cap looking likely to hit its lowest level in over two years", he said. 

He also urged  households who want to lock in rates for price certainty to run a comparison to see what energy tariffs are available to them.

"There are many 12-month fixed tariffs available at rates cheaper than the current price cap, and even some that are 2% below these new predicted July rates," he said. 

Cristiano Ronaldo has topped Forbes' list of highest-paid athletes for the fourth time in his career.

Ronaldo became the world's highest-paid athlete after his move to Saudi Arabian side Al Nassr and Forbes said the 39-year-old's estimated total earnings were around $260m (£205m) - an all-time high for a football player.

His on-field earnings amounted to $200m (£158m) while off-field he earned $60m (£47m) thanks to sponsorship deals where brands make use of his 629 million Instagram followers.

Spanish golfer Jon Rahm took second place following his switch to Saudi-backed LIV Golf.

Rahm earned $218m (£172m) and joins Ronaldo as the only two athletes to earn over $200m.

Third on the list is record eight-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi, who switched to Major League Soccer team Inter Miami, which helped the Argentine World Cup winner earn $135m (£107m).

The 36-year-old earned $65m (£51m) in on-field earnings but $70m (£55m) off it from deals with major sponsors such as Adidas and Apple.

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James came in fourth at $128m (£101m), while fellow NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks made fifth with $111m (£88m).

France football captain Kylian Mbappe dropped down to sixth with $110m (£87m).

French striker Karim Benzema, who also moved to Saudi Arabia, is eighth on the list with $106m (£84m), followed by Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry with $102m (£80m).

Lamar Jackson is the only NFL player on the list, in 10th place with $101m (£80m), thanks to the signing bonus negotiated into his new Baltimore Ravens contract last year.

The number of new pupils joining private schools has fallen by  2.7% since last year, according to the latest figures.

Data from the Independent Schools Council (ISC) shows families are now paying more than £18,000 a year on average to send their children to private school.

This is an 8% rise in school fees for the 2023-2024 academic year compared with the year before.

But as fees soar, figures show a 2.7% drop in the number of new pupil applications - this is the biggest fall since the ISC started collecting data in 2011.

Every Friday we get an overview of the mortgage market with independent experts from  Moneyfactscompare.co.uk . Today, finance expert Rachel Springall outlines what's been happening within the buy-to-let market…

A handful of lenders moved to tweak the fixed rates they charge on buy-to-let mortgages over the past week. 

Paragon Bank launched some new "portfolio" and "green" fixed mortgages, and Aldermore pulled its limited edition five-year fixed rates, max 65% loan-to-value. 

Buckinghamshire Building Society also launched new deals onto the market, and Claire Askham, head of mortgage sales said: "The decision to increase our BTL lending to 80% represents a positive move for the sector as we continue to see landlords appraising their portfolios through divesting, refinancing and taking advantage of a variety of property-related opportunities as they arise."

Week on week, there has been minor moves to the overall average fixed buy-to-let rates, with the two-year remaining unchanged at 5.62% and the five-year falling by 0.02% to 5.59%.

This week the lowest two-year fix for buy-to-let customers at 75% loan-to-value comes from Metro Bank, priced at 4.19%, which charges a percentage booking fee of 5.00% of the mortgage advance and is available to second-time buyers and remortgage customers borrowing a maximum of £2m. 

There is another option from the same lender which carries an incentive package just for remortgage customers, but it has a lower maximum advance of £1.5m.

If you are looking to borrow more, then Suffolk Building Society has the lowest two-year fix for buy-to-let customers at 80% loan-to-value priced at 4.79% for second-time buyers and remortgage customers. 

The deal charges a percentage completion fee of 3.00% of the mortgage advance as well as a flat £199 booking fee.

Remortgage customers will receive a free valuation and free legal fees incentive.

A five-year fixed buy-to-let mortgage may be more appealing for you to guarantee your monthly repayments for longer. 

If you looking to borrow at 75% loan-to-value, HSBC has a deal for remortgage customers priced at 4.33%, which carries a free valuation and free legal fees incentive package but charges a flat £3,999 product fee.

If you are looking to borrow more, then Furness Building Society has the lowest five-year fixed buy-to-let deal at 80% loan-to-value priced at 5.39% for second-time buyers and remortgage customers. It charges a booking fee of £995 and includes an £250 cashback incentive. 

Remortgage customers will also receive a free valuation. This deal also happens to be a Best Buy for a five-year fixed deal at 80% loan-to-value.

Best Buy alternatives

The lowest buy-to-let rates may carry both a flat product fee and an arrangement fee which is based on a percentage of the mortgage advance, so a Best Buy package may be more suitable if you are looking to save on the upfront cost of any deal. 

You might also want a deal to cover a valuation or legal fees. A Best Buy buy-to-let mortgage could be the most cost-effective choice in this instance, but it's worth seeking advice before entering any arrangement.

This week the top packages on a two-year fixed buy-to-let deal at 75% loan-to-value comes from HSBC, priced at 4.69%, which comes with a free valuation and charges a £3,999 product fee and is available to second-time buyers. 

If you want a loan with a lower upfront fee, then HSBC also has a Best Buy deal priced at 4.94% at 75% loan-to-value, which carries a free valuation and charges a £1,999 product fee and is available to second-time buyers.

If you are looking to borrow more, then Furness Building Society has a Best Buy two-year fixed buy-to-let deal priced at 5.73% at 80% loan-to-value for second-time buyers and remortgage customers. It charges a fee of £995 and includes a £250 cashback incentive. Remortgage customers will also receive a free valuation.

A five-year fixed buy-to-let mortgage may be more appealing for you to guarantee your monthly repayments for longer. If you looking to borrow at 75% loan-to-value, HSBC has a Best Buy deal priced at 4.39%, which carries a free valuation and charges a £3,999 product fee. 

If you want a loan with a lower upfront fee, then HSBC also has a Best Buy deal priced at 4.64% at 75% loan-to-value, which carries a free valuation and charges a £1,999 product fee.

If you are looking to borrow more, then Furness Building Society has a Best Buy five-year fixed buy-to-let deal priced at 5.39% at 80% loan-to-value for second-time buyers and remortgage customers. 

It charges a booking fee of £995 and includes an £250 cashback incentive. Remortgage customers will also receive a free valuation. This deal also happens to be the lowest rate on a five-year fixed deal at 80% loan-to-value.

By James Sillars , business reporter

A lack of strong corporate updates did for the FTSE 100 on Thursday.

A flat end to the day has been followed by a flat end to the week, with the index falling almost 0.1% to 8,433 in early deals on Friday.

Very little around for investors to ponder.

Developments this morning included pharmaceutical firm GSK saying it had raised £1.25bn from selling its entire remaining stake in Haleon.

The consumer healthcare firm was spun out of GSK almost two years ago.

One other announcement of note came from Sainsbury's.

It revealed a five-year strategic partnership with Microsoft that will see generative AI used to boost personalised shopping experiences for consumers, improve search functions and make staff working practices more efficient.

The financial terms were not disclosed. Its shares were 0.4% higher.

Away from the equity markets, it's worth taking a quick look at how oil is finishing the week.

Brent crude is trading above $83 a barrel on evidence of rising demand.

Prices at these levels should not have an impact at the fuel pumps but small recent declines in average costs could be reversed if the upwards oil price trend continues.

Greggs will open eight stores in the next few weeks, as the company continues its expansion plans 

The bakery said it would open a total of 180 new branches before the end of this year. 

We were told earlier this year that the famous sausage roll-seller would open new stores in London, Cambridge and Sale, but Greggs has now revealed where its next eight new branches will be. 

Here are the locations of the eight new sights, revealed by the bakery to The Sun:

• Saffron Walden, Market Place, England
• Bangor, Carnarfon Road, Wales
• Birmingham Prime Park, England
• Brierley Hill, Merryhill, England
• Consett Delves Lane Drive Thru, County Durham, England
• Edinburgh, 60-61 Seafield Road, Scotland
• Glasgow, Argyle St, Scotland
• Porth, U3C Geilligron IE, Wales

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