Situation 1

The interviewer. Your chief editor gave you the task to write down an article about recent changes in the banking sector of economy. The circulation of your magazine begins to fall that’s why you should do your best to write this article. You apply to Mr. Roger Sharpley who was elected the chief of the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve System not so long ago. You know him to be a busy and not very communicative person. You understand that it is not going to be easy to meet him, but you decide to give it a try. You congratulate him on his new appointment by phone and try to persuade him that your meeting won’t take much time.

Mr. Roger Sharpley. You got this post thanks to your mental abilities to analyze and calculate. You’ve been working in banking since your graduation from the University. You have huge experience not only in banking but you are also aware of the main changes which have happened in this sphere during the last 10-20 years. You are an expert in this question but you have a lot of work to do. You adore horse racing and you visit race-course twice a month.

Situation 2

Clerk of Accounting and Operational Division. You are a very communicative person and can easily persuade people. Moreover you have large experience in banking and especially in dealing with clients.

Client. You inherited $ 50 thousand and know nothing about banking. You’d like to invest your money into something which can bring you substantial profit. Your first idea was to buy some real estate and rent it in future. But your wife (husband) convinced you to buy some shares of General Motors. You were about to follow her (his) advice but passing by the bank you saw an advertisement about the increase of interest rate on deposits. So, you came in wishing to find out why making a deposit could be more profitable than making investments into shares or real estate.

Brainstorming activity Problem 1

You are the owner of a bank. There are rumors going round the city that your bank is just about to be bankrupt. Having heard that information the citizens began to withdraw their deposits. The firms started to remit money from your bank to the others. Due to that your bank can to lose all its money and become a real bankrupt. What would you do? How would you stop the money flow out of your bank?

Problem 2

You’re the Board Chairman. Your competitor-bank actively inculcates in the electronic payment system (through Western Union, Europay, etc.). This has led to the reduction of payment flow through your bank by $ 100 million for the last half of the year. You can install such electronic payment system in your bank but it demands some extra expenses. You can also decrease the commission on the existing types of payment (through Correspondent banks). That won’t demand initial expenses but will keep the risk of decreasing the volume of payment through your bank. What would you do?

Final discussion

Preparing for final discussion, try to search for extra information in special editions, magazines and financial text-books. Consult your teachers of special subjects and use the Internet resources. It is recommended to subdivide the group into 3 subgroups for better organization of the discussion.

Questions for discussion:

1. Do you believe that we witness the age of new services in banking?

2. Would you say that there has been a shift in the interrelation of traditional and innovative types of banking services?

3. Comment on the willingness of modern banks to act as financial department stores.