Costly Train Journey (A) tells the story of an MBA student who on graduation started an investment banking job in the City. He was successful in his first few years but commuting into London he continued to dodge the train fare until he was caught by ticket inspectors. He was asked to pay £43,000 in avoided fares or face prosecution.

This case deals with efforts by HSBC, one of the two largest banks in the world by market capitalization, to develop a wholesale banking franchise that can effectively challenge those of major universal bank competitors such as Citigroup, as well as dominant “monoline” firms such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.