In this case study, we are analyzing how one of the biggest international telecommunications providers, Telenor, has used this weakness of financial institutions and has successfully launched the first mobile only bank in Serbia – Telenor Banka. The CEO of Telenor Banka is an INSEAD Alumni and is working with us on this case.

This case traces the history of Goldman Sachs from its origins as it grows from a partnership to one of the most valuable franchises in the global securities industry and ultimately a listed corporation, and its transformation into a bank holding company under the regulatory oversight of the Federal Reserve.

A two-party negotiation between a successful female manager in the private banking industry and her male boss about her bonus, her performance, and her potential for promotion competing against a male colleague, laden with gender issues.

In the spring of 2011, JPMorgan Chase realised that their synthetic credit portfolio (SCP), which represented less than 1% of the bank’s total assets, had grown to become more than half of the bank’s total risk. An article in the WSJ would soon make it public knowledge that the bank was in a difficult situation.

The Mexican microfinance bank Compartamos Banco took the industry by surprise in 2007 with a successful IPO that valued the bank at more than US$ 1 billion.