The Breakthrough Banking Blueprint

This book is an expert insider account that outlines how the top community banks in the game have been hitting the target every quarter without skipping a beat, despite recessions, big-bank buyouts, and vicious competition for deposits. It's the ultimate blueprint for an unlikely success story: Stop just surviving, and learn how to thrive.

Managing the New Bank Technology is a practical action-oriented guide for bank CEOs, executives, business students, and boards. The book is aimed at educating those involved in banking on the key technological issues facing the industry. "Quick reference" guides opening each chapter are a special feature of the book, blueprints that offer bottom line summary suggestions for bank officers and executives. Topics include: Banking as Retailing; The Internet and Financial Services; Strategies for Future Payment Systems; Risk Management Technology; Protecting Technology Investments in an Age of Rapid Change; Negotiating Outsourcing Contracts; Developing an Information System Plan; Organizational Strategies to Manage Technology; Battling Fraud and Security Issues; and Selling Your Bank's Technology Vision.

'A Blueprint for Better Banking' takes a fresh look at the financial crisis. It sets out to answer specifically what the mistakes were that banks made and how this could have been avoided. What is unique about this book is a detailed description of a large bank that operates very differently from its peers and that has, as a result, steered clear of the areas that have brought many other banks into trouble. This provides a number of insights into how a more resilient, post-credit crunch banking system should look. The first section begins with an overview of existing explanations of the crisis and why they remain partly unsatisfactory. It then sets out an alternative framework based around seven behavioural patterns of imprudent banking. These 'Seven Deadly Sins' have caused most banking crises, including the current one, and while they come in different shapes and forms they remain essentially the same. This book examines why they remain extremely tempting to bankers, often with the enthusiastic support of their shareholders and no meaningful objection by regulators. The second and main part of the book is a new and extensive description of the management practices at Svenska Handelsbanken, one of the top 25 banks in Europe. It not only survived the Swedish banking crisis in the 1990s without asking for support, but it has also remained stable during the latest crisis. Handelsbanken did not have to raise capital or ask for government support and its shares have been the best performing European bank stock by a wide margin. The bank has traditionally been run by management practices that are diametrically opposed to so-called 'best practice' in the industry. The book investigates how Handelsbanken operates without bonuses and examines their unique organisation, strategy discussion, risk management and capital markets communication. In effect, the book describes how Handelsbanken ensures that it does not fall for any of the Seven Deadly Sins. Niels Kroner has conducted over fifty interviews with Handelsbanken executives and competitors, and also draws on his inside experience of many other institutions to bring out the important differences between the 'Handelsbanken way' and common practices at other banks. The final part summarises what other banks and financial institutions can learn from Handelsbanken and how its model may offer a solution that other potential regulatory changes may not.

"A Blueprint for Better Banking" takes a fresh look at the financial crisis. It sets out to answer specifically what the mistakes were that banks made and how this could have been avoided. What is unique about this book is a detailed description of a large bank that operates very differently from its peers and that has, as a result, steered clear of the areas that have brought many other banks into trouble. This provides a number of insights into how a more resilient, post-credit crunch banking system should look. The first section begins with an overview of existing explanations of the crisis and why they remain partly unsatisfactory. It then sets out an alternative framework based around seven behavioural patterns of imprudent banking. These 'Seven Deadly Sins' have caused most banking crises, including the current one, and while they come in different shapes and forms they remain essentially the same. This book examines why they remain extremely tempting to bankers, often with the enthusiastic support of their shareholders and no meaningful objection by regulators. The second and main part of the book is a new and extensive description of the management practices at Svenska Handelsbanken, one of the top 25 banks in Europe. It not only survived the Swedish banking crisis in the 1990s without asking for support, but it has also remained stable during the latest crisis. Handelsbanken did not have to raise capital or ask for government support and its shares have been the best performing European bank stock by a wide margin. The bank has traditionally been run by management practices that are diametrically opposed to so-called 'best practice' in the industry. The book investigates how Handelsbanken operates without bonuses and examines their unique organisation, strategy discussion, risk management and capital markets communication. In effect, the book describes how Handelsbanken ensures that it does not fall for any of the Seven Deadly Sins. Niels Kroner has conducted over fifty interviews with Handelsbanken executives and competitors, and also draws on his inside experience of many other institutions to bring out the important differences between the 'Handelsbanken way' and common practices at other banks. The final part summarises what other banks and financial institutions can learn from Handelsbanken and how its model may offer a solution that other potential regulatory changes may not.

Finally, the book that all professionals frustrated with fleeting client loyalty and relentless price pressure have waited for -- the first in-depth, client-tested guide to developing lasting business relationships. What separates extraordinary professionals from ordinary ones? Why are some professionals always drawn into their clients' inner circle of advisers, while others are employed on a one-shot basis and treated like vendors? Based on groundbreaking research, Clients for Life sets forth a comprehensive framework for how professionals in all fields can develop breakthrough relationships with their clients and enjoy enduring client loyalty. Drawing on insights from extensive interviews with both leading CEOs and today's most prominent client advisers, Jagdish Sheth and Andrew Sobel debunk the conventional wisdom about professional success -- "find a specialty, do good work" -- as hopelessly inadequate in a world where clients have unlimited access to information and expertise. The authors replace these tired conventions with an innovative blueprint, supported by over one hundred case studies and examples drawn from consulting, financial services, law, technology, and other fields, for how you can evolve from an expert for hire -- a commodity -- to an extraordinary adviser. Riveting portraits of both exceptional contemporary professionals and legendary advisers such as Aristotle, Thomas More, Niccolò Machiavelli, and J. P. Morgan reveal how great client relationships are achieved in practice. Readers will learn, for example, to develop selfless independence, which tempers complete emotional, intellectual, and financial independence with a powerful commitment to client needs; to become deep generalists and overcome the narrow perspective caused by specialization; to systematically build lifelong trust; and to cultivate the power of synthesis -- big-picture thinking -- that is so highly valued by clients. Acclaimed by leading management thinkers, Clients for Life clearly illustrates the most important attributes and strategies of extraordinary client advisers and shows how you can use them to enrich your own relationships. It provides sophisticated professionals with the tools and insights they need to reap the rewards of lifetime client loyalty.

In the rapidly changing financial services market, banks need to seriously reconsider their way of doing business. Reengineering the Bank helps you redesign your organization from a "blank sheet of paper" to do better things at lower cost, rather than repeat the past. Reengineering the Bank includes discussion on issues such as: reengineering to face increased competition and to redesign obsolete business practices; reducing expenses and bureaucracy to improve performance; correctly pricing products and services; increasing shareholder value and market performance through reengineering; implementing tested strategies that result in increased service quality, competitiveness and customer focus, while dramatically improving returns. Reengineering the Bank details how to undertake a reengineering program. Thorough descriptions and case studies will help you apply successful approaches to your institution. Now is the perfect time for banks to act: record spreads and profits in the industry can help to fund a forward-thinking redesign effort. But you need to seize the moment while you can because competition is too fierce, too smart and too close to home. Reengineering now can ensure your bank's continued success and competitiveness.