The savings and loan crisis was brought to the attention of the American public in a dramatic manner in 1989. While the headlines emphasized the problems in the thrift industry of the financial services sector of the American economy, more thoughtful analyses began educating Americans to the fact that significant problems also existed in the commercial banking industry. Some analysts even contend that the potential for problems in the commercial banking industry hold the potential to cause the scandal in the thrift industry to appear minor by comparison.
Whatever the potential may be for a savings and loan type debacle in the commercial banking industry, a certainty is that the changing national and international financial services environments demand that commercial banks become more efficient in their operations if they hope to survive in the remainder of the 1990s. Operational efficiency must be pursued by commercial banking institutions in a number of different areas. An area of particular significance in this context is the costing of banking products the financial services provided by commercial banking institutions.
The problem area of banking product costing is exacerbated by the changing character and definition of the various types of financial services, and the alternative methods of the costing of such services, including the complex factor involved in such costing. This problem will be examined in the proposed research study.
The purpose of the proposed research study will be to develop a body of knowledge that will facilitate the development by commercial banking managers of effective procedures for the costing of various types of financial services during the remainder of the 1990s and in the early years of the next century. Within the context of this study purpose, definitions of contemporary financial services products will be provided, the problems associated with the costing of such products will be d...