Assignment

1. What is a bank? How does a bank differ from most other financial-service providers?

2. Under U.S. law what must a corporation do to qualify and be regulated as a commercial bank?

3. Why are some banks reaching out to become one-stop financial service conglomerates? Is this a good idea in your opinion?

4. Which businesses are banking's closest and toughest competitors? What services do they offer that compete directly with banks' services?

5. What is happening to banking's share of the financial marketplace and why? What kind of banking and financial system do you foresee for the future if present trends continue?

6. What different kinds of services do banks offer the public today? What services do their closest competitors offer?

7. What is a financial department store? A universal bank? Why do you think these institutions have become so important in the modern financial system?

8. Why do banks and other financial intermediaries exist in modern society, according to the theory of finance?

9. How have banking and the financial services market changed in recent years? What powerful forces are shaping financial markets and institutions today? Which of these forces do you think will continue into the future?

10. Can you explain why many of the forces you named in the answer to the previous question have led to significant problems for the management of banks and other financial firms and their stockholders?

11. What do you think the financial services industry will look like 20 years from now? What are the implications of your projections for its management today?