FINS5530 Financial Institution Management Group Assignment Term 1 2025 | UNSW

Instructions: 

• This is a group assignment. Each group should have a minimum of 4 to a maximum of 5 members. You are expected to work collaboratively on this assignment.
• You are required to register yourself in a group via the group builder tool on Moodle. The sooner you finalise your group, the more time you have on this assignment.
• You are encouraged to include tables and graphs in your report. You should avoid direct screenshots of tables and graphs from the annual report.
• You may also use the textbook or other online resources as references. All sources must be carefully cited in a reference list.
• To write a successful report, please carefully read the marking criteria attached to this paper. 

The report must contain the following: 

• Cover page - including course name, title of the report, and for each group member, full name, and student ID.
• Table of contents
• Executive summary - A summary of the key findings of your research (about a page)
• Introduction - Provide an overview of how the report is structured and discuss the value of your research
• Body - please use the following headings/themes to organise the body of the report (you may use subheadings within each of these headings). Please use research evidence/case study references to support your discussion of these themes.
• Conclusion - This is not a summary, but a discussion of key implications of the findings/recommendations of your research/analysis.
• References - Please use the Harvard referencing system.
• Maximum length - 3,000 words. The cover page, table of contents, executive summary, and bibliography are not included in the word count. You may vary the word count by +/- 10%. 

The following formatting is recommended for the report: 

• Use Portrait orientation
• Use Arial font, size 11 pt
• Use 1.5 line spacing
• Use A4 paper size

1. Introduction

Banks are subjected to a wide array of risks during their operations. Risk management is about understanding and managing the Bank's risk environment and taking measures, where necessary, to ensure that risks are contained to acceptable levels, while making sure loss-absorption buffers are sufficient. In addition, the analysis of banks must also consider the current status of a country's financial system and overall economy. 

Financial statements, as well as capital and risk disclosures (or Pillar 3 Disclosures), offer a window into the operations and risk management of a bank. The financial statements for banks can look very different from those reported by most companies, while risk disclosures are unique to this sector.

2. Purpose 

This term-long project will allow you to apply theory and financial modelling techniques to a real bank. Thus, you will need to draw on the knowledge you acquire during lectures and the skills you practice. You will also be expected to critically analyse bank decision-making. 

As an expert team in banking, you and your team members are asked to identify and analyse bank financial risk management failures by the usage of information provided by financial statements and other public disclosures. Your team are required to read the First Republic Bank ("First Republic") 2022 Annual Report and its Pillar 3 capital disclosures, conduct relevant research, and write a detailed consulting report. 

An additional learning outcome is for teams to learn to collaborate effectively, incorporate different perspectives, produce quality work according to an agreed plan, and provide constructive feedback to each other.

3. Background 

ForbesArticle 

Available online at Forbes

4. Consulting assignment 

Your team's job is to deliver a consulting report on how well risksincluding credit risk, interest rate risk, liquidity risk, and capital adequacy, were managed in the lead-up to the Bank's failure. Your manager is interested in how both managerial and regulatory failures led to the demise of the institution and has requested that you and your teammates address the following questions in the consulting report: 

A. By reference to the main financial risks faced by the FIRST REPUBLIC, discuss whether a user (e.g. an investor or depositor) analysing the November 2022 Basel 3 Disclosures of the First Republic had sufficient information to foresee the failure of the bank in Q1 2023. Ensure that your discussion refers to gaps in the information provided by First Republic management in the annual financial statements (accounting information) and Pillar 3 disclosures (regulatory information). [5 marks] 

B. If you were an executive in the First Republic at the time, which information would you include in the Pillar 3 disclosures to ensure that users such as investors and bank depositors had sufficient data to inform their decision making? While you can refer to your conclusions in A above, justify your remarks by citing specific metrics and how much and/or in which direction the published figures/commentary would indicatively have changed according to your recommendations. Ensure that any arguments based on your workings (e.g., restating a ratio) are supported by clear descriptions of such calculations. [5 marks] 

C. In the conduct of their supervision of banks, what were the main failures of bank regulators that contributed to the failure of the First Republic? Critically assess the adequacy of the Basel Risk-Weighted-Assets Framework as reflected in the financial statements and Pillar 3 Disclosures to stop the First Republic failure. Ensure that your answer highlights the interconnectedness of bank risks and how that added complexity to their management and supervision, and ultimately led to the failure of the First Republic. What are your recommendations to avoid such outcomes in future? [5 marks] 

D. From your research, identify and discuss at least two failures of the First Republic's risk management framework that contributed to the Bank's failure. [5 marks]

E. From your research, identify and discuss how the First Republic's strategy of specialising in the tech start-up business segment may have contributed to the failure of the Bank. Briefly discuss how society's adoption of recent technological innovations may have contributed to the intensity of the bank run experienced by the First Republic [5 marks]