Strategy and Organization of Corporate Banking

Professor Giacomo De Laurentis is Professor of Banking and Director at the Banking and Insurance Department of Bocconi School of Management, Milan - Italy.

Reinhard H. Schmidt The impressive development of the finance literature with its emphasis on asset pricing and the formal modeling of incentive systems during the past three decades, has largely relegated the business and operational aspects of banking as an industry from the agenda of academic research. Though this is understandable, it is especially regrettable in view of the dynamic dev- opments in the banking industry which have started about a decade ago and are currently in full swing. Fortunately, there are now signs of a change to the effect that banking is back on the research agenda. The p- sent book by Professor De Laurentis and his co-authors is a highly inno- tive and interesting manifestation of this reorientation. Banking is an important part of any financial system, and it is especially important in the financial systems of the countries of Continental Europe, such as Italy, France, and Germany, which have been bank-based for d- ades and which are, in my view, likely to remain bank-based for the fo- seeable future. There are many reasons, based on empirical and theoretical considerations, to believe that strong banks are not only important for the banking industry itself, but also for the respective national economies.

The wide range and the frequently renewed formulation of strategies and organization models of corporate banking highlights the absence of a dominant model and the huge risk of misaligned strategy. Against this backdrop, the book bridges the gab between bank management theoretical grounds and an empirical survey conducted in 12 European banks.

Theoretical Drivers of Divisionalization.- Corporate Banking Strategies: Products, Markets and Channels.- Organizational Structures.- Corporate Banker's Role and Credit Risk Management.- Operating Mechanisms.- Information Systems.- Conclusions.