What is BANKING ProfitAbility®?  

BANKING ProfitAbility is a board-based simulation of a bank, which shows the portfolio of deposits taken, and secured and unsecured loans given out. Two versions are available: the BASIC model and the ADVANCED model.

This engaging and challenging business simulation is for managers and staff at all levels of the banking sector. BANKING ProfitAbility is especially effective at showing new hires to a bank how it works. It creates a greater understanding of how the balance and spread of a portfolio, the level of expenses incurred, and losses on loans all interact to produce profit or loss for a Bank.

BANKING ProfitAbility gives a remarkably clear and simple overview of how a bank works, what makes it profitable and how it can grow. Using a unique, board-based simulation, participants see the results of their decisions and learn to grasp the cause-and-effect relationships of key aspects of a bank’s operations. For those in customer-facing positions, it demonstrates clearly the effect they can have on customer retention, and hence profitability.

Experiential learning – or ‘learning by doing’ – enables your people to absorb essential concepts and transfer them directly to their workplace in the form of changed behavior. Knowledge and business acumen are not only increased, but – vitally – also retained.

Each participant is part of a 3–4 person team, in competition with 5 other teams. Each team will set the level of investment in back office systems and the number of employees, which together determine the level of service they can provide to their customers. They set interest rates for deposits and secured and unsecured loans. Using a combination of these factors with marketing efforts, they compete for customers and build a portfolio of loans and deposits. The goal is to outperform your competitors by creating more profit and value than them, while maintaining cash flow that is critical to the business. The simulation is run over 6 business cycles. After each period of activity, short presentations are given on the following topics, followed by immediate application exercises:

The learning outcomes of both models are:

• Improved understanding of the relationships between service levels, customer retention and profitability
  
• Understand how banks compete for profitable customers
  
• Knowledge of how interest rate spreads, volumes and costs have an impact on profitability
  
• Understanding the bank’s own cash flow
  
• Understanding the impact of losses

Additional learning outcomes of the ADVANCED model are:

• Experience of the challenges involved in managing both retail and commercial customers
  
• Knowledge of the effect of capital adequacy requirements on growth
  
• Understanding the impact of having a broader range of products, such as insurance
  
• The option to add a derivatives desk
  
• The option to run Value Based Management accounts (using statistically expected losses) as well as Financial Accounts (using actual losses)

None. Just bring a calculator, sharp mind and pencil! Prior to the program you may be asked to do a web-based questionnaire, the Business Savvy Survey. This 15-minute exercise will let you know the level of your business financial acumen. The result you get is virtually instantaneous, is only sent to you and is confidential to you. Furthermore, you can take the test anytime after the ProfitAbility ® program to record exactly how much and where you have improved.

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