Introduction to Banking

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to understand:

The reasons why banks exist, the main services they offer, recent trends impacting on business areas, types of banking firms and the differences between domestic and international banking business.
The pivotal role played by monetary policy and supervisory regulation and their impact on the banking sector (and economy as a whole).
The rationale for central banking, the main tools and instruments of monetary policy and how various major central banks undertake their operations.
The reasons why banks are so heavily regulated and why adequate solvency and liquidity are critical to maintain a safe and sound banking system.
The important role played by capital in the banking sector as well as the relevance of the Basel Capital Accords.
The determinants of bank failure as well as the toolkits at regulators’ disposal to supervise bank risk taking.
The causes of banking and financial crises as well as effective crisis-management mechanisms.
The main components of banks’ balance sheet and income statements, off-balance sheet activity and how to analyse bank performance and other issues using traditional ratio analysis.
How banks manage their on- and off-balance sheet positions and the main risks faced in banking operations.
The main risk-management approaches undertaken in banking.
The institutional features of the banking/financial systems of the UK, the US, Europe, Japan and various emerging markets and transition economies.
How the institutional features of the different banking systems are changing and the trends that are common to all systems.
How to analyse and discuss the structural and performance features of these (and other) banking systems.
Some of the current issues in banking.