125.365
Retail Banking
COURSE GUIDE
Distance
Semester 2, 2019
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Contents
Course Staff ............................................................................................................................ 5
Course coordinator: David Tripe ...................................................................................................... 5
Contact Details ..................................................................................................................................... 5
What is this course about? ...................................................................................................... 6
Summary of the course .................................................................................................................... 6
Course student learning outcomes .................................................................................................. 6
Relationship to other courses .......................................................................................................... 6
Overview of the topics covered ....................................................................................................... 7
How is this course assessed? ................................................................................................... 8
Formal Requirements to pass this course......................................................................................... 8
The assessments at a glance ................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Assignment 1: .................................................................................................................................. 9
Worth................................................................................................................................................... 9
Assignment Submission ....................................................................................................................... 9
Assignment 2: .................................................................................................................................. 9
Worth................................................................................................................................................... 9
Assignment Submission ....................................................................................................................... 9
Assignment Marking Guide ............................................................................................................... 10
Assignment Extensions....................................................................................................................... 11
Late Assignments ............................................................................................................................... 11
Student Submission of Assignments ................................................................................................. 11
Academic Honesty and Plagiarism ..................................................................................................... 12
How will we learn in this course? .......................................................................................... 13
Approach to Teaching and Learning in the Course.......................................................................... 13
Required Textbook (if applicable) .................................................................................................. 13
Learning Activities and Teaching Strategies ................................................................................... 13
Role of Stream ................................................................................................................................. 133
Weekly tasks for 125.365 study ...................................................................................................... 133
Communicating with each other ...................................................................................................... 144
Communication expectations.......................................................................................................... 144
Course Staff
Course coordinator: David Tripe
Professor David Tripe teaches Banking and related material in the School of Economics and Finance at
Massey University. He has been at Massey since 1994 but for much of the 20 years prior to that he was
working in banks, in a wide range of areas, including being involved in the launch of the first New
Zealand bank credit card and some of the early days of EFTPOS. This has stimulated an ongoing interest
in the payments roles of the banking sector and the interface between payments and new technologies,
both in New Zealand and internationally.
David has a PhD in Banking and has developed an extensive reputation as a researcher and
commentator on the banking sectors of New Zealand and other countries, and related issues. He lives
on the Kapiti Coast.
He is often away from the office, and it is suggested that you should contact him by E‐mail first if you
want a face‐to‐face meeting or even a telephone conversation with him.
Contact Details
 (06) 951 7038 (extension 84038 if phoning from on a campus)


D.W.Tripe@massey.ac.nz
Office location Ecology 1.40, Manawatu Campus (until such time as we
move back into BSW)
125.365 Course Guide 5
What is this course about?
Summary of the course
This course offers a critical analysis of the main elements required for a successful retail
banking operation, with some emphasis on what makes retail banking special. The connection
with the retail management programme is one reason for the emphasis on payments, but
payments are probably the most important reason why most people hold bank accounts.
Course student learning outcomes
Students who successfully complete this course should be able to:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Critically evaluate retail payment systems.
Identify and evaluate the range of products and delivery systems used in retail banking.
Discuss the importance of branding for retail banking organisations.
Demonstrate an understanding of service quality and explain its importance in the retail
banking market.
Relationship to other courses
This course was developed to support the University’s retail management programme, and is
specifically about retail banking. It thus relates to retail, but it also provides an exploration of
a number of issues in retail banking, and it is thus useful for other programmes as well –
particularly if you are working or expect to work in a bank.
Before attempting this course you will have acquired an introductory knowledge of banking
from course 125.220 (Financial Institutions and Markets).
125.365 Course Guide 6
Overview of the topics covered
The course is designed on the basis of one topic per week, as outlined in the table below
Week 1
What is retail banking?
Week 2
Bank products – accounts – financial inclusion
Week 3
Bank products ‐ other
Week 4
Payments ‐ overview, cash and cash access
Week 5
Payments – cards and other mobile payments
Week 6
Payments – credit cards
Week 7
Payments – on‐line payments
Week 8
Delivery systems and service quality ‐ physical
Week 9
Delivery systems and service quality ‐ electronic
Week 10
Deposits and branding
Week 11
Bank lending and branding
Week 12
Consumer finance
125.365 Course Guide 7
How is this course assessed?
Formal Requirements to pass this course
To pass this paper you must achieve 50% overall, including a pass in the final exam.
The assessments at a glance
Assessment
Learning
Outcomes
Percentage
Weighting
Due Dates
Assignment 1
1,2
20 %
19 August
Assignment 2
2‐4
20%
14 October
Final exam
1‐4
60%
TBA
125.365 Course Guide 8
Assignment 1:
In approximately 2000 words discuss issues related to the prospective phasing out of cash as a
means of payment. When do you think cash might be phased out in New Zealand, and why do
you think it will take that long to happen? How can society address the difficulties that would
be faced by people who have difficulty in utilising non‐cash means of payment? What would
be the costs and benefits of having a cashless society? What can we learn from other
countries’ experience of cash usage?
Worth
20%
Assignment Submission
Via Stream
Assignment 2:
In approximately 2000 words, discuss factors relating to banks’ ongoing requirements or otherwise for
physical networks. How easy will it be for banks to acquire new customers or sell new products
without face‐to‐face contact? How can banks without a physical presence differentiate themselves
from the competition? Illustrate your answer as appropriate with examples from the New Zealand
and/or other countries’ banking systems.
Worth
20%
Assignment Submission
Via Stream
125.365 Course Guide 9
Assignment Marking Guide
This is how I expect to mark your assignments.
Criteria
Value
Presentation: Appropriate length, correct use of essay format, clear language,
concise style, correct grammar and spelling. Professional presentation and
appearance.
Content: Identifying the dimensions of the topic, relating them to a conceptual
structure, constructing directed and logical argument; inclusion of material only of
greatest relevance, direct focus on the topic, ignoring irrelevant or peripheral
material.
2
10
Referencing: Quality of references, correct use of referencing format.
2
General: Overall effort involved, creativity, style.
6
Total
20
125.365 Course Guide 10
Assignment Extensions
Extensions for the written assignments may be granted for exceptional and unforeseeable
situations at the discretion of the course co‐ordinator.
Late Assignments
If you miss the deadline and you did not ask for an extension, you may still submit your
assignment late. However:
 A penalty of 2 marks out of 100 per day (including weekends) will be applied to the
final mark.
 Assignments that are 8‐14 days late will receive little, if any, written feedback and may
not be returned within the three‐week turnaround time.
 If your assignment arrives 15+ days after the deadline, it will not be marked and you
will receive a zero grade.
Student Submission of Assignments
Many of you are aware of the increasing difficulties educational institutions are having dealing
with issues of plagiarism. This problem impacts on students as it disadvantages honest
students, undermines the credibility of the qualification, and takes up huge staffing resources
that could be better spent elsewhere. Massey has purchased a licence to a product called
Turnitin®, which is a text matching web application, and is one of many tools available to deal
with the problem.
Plagiarism can be avoided by correctly acknowledging the authorship of any material in your
assignment that is not your own work. Go to http://owll.massey.ac.nz/ for guidance on how to
avoid plagiarism.
This paper requires you to submit an electronic version of your assignment to Stream. The
electronic version you submit will be compared with material available on the world wide web
(via Turnitin) including many electronic books, journals, newspapers, cheat sites (or paper
mills), web pages and previously submitted assignments.
Please go to http://www.massey.ac.nz/?ta5c75148n for instructions on how to upload your
assignments to the Stream course website.
125.365 Course Guide 11
Academic Honesty and Plagiarism
For all course assignments it is acceptable (and helpful) to discuss the issues with other
students. You may freely ask and answer questions that promote learning.
However, it is NOT acceptable to:
•
Copy another student’s work, in part or in total, or an official answer from either the
current class or from a previous class.
•
Allow other students to copy your work, in part or in total.
•
Provide students in future years with copies of your assignments.
•
Copy and paste sections from internet sourced documents or pages.
Plagiarism is defined by Massey University as:
Presenting as one’s own work the work of another, including copying or paraphrasing of
another’s work without acknowledging it as another person’s work through full and accurate
referencing. It applies to material presented through written, spoken, electronic, broadcasting,
visual, performance or other medium.
Link to the Academic Integrity policy of Massey University is here.
Plagiarism can be avoided by correctly acknowledging the authorship of any material in your
assignment that is not your own work. The above website also provides links to guidance on
how to avoid plagiarism.
Plagiarism in an assignment may result in your assignment not being awarded any marks. In
serious cases, it can result in even more serious disciplinary action by the University.
Work Prepared for This Particular Offering of This Course.
We aim to mark assignments submitted on time within 15 working days from the official due
date.
{Insert other text here depending on how you have setup the submission of assignments for
your course.}
125.365 Course Guide 12
How will we learn in this course?
Approach to Teaching and Learning in the Course
We have one topic per week. I will provide you with some introductory discussion, and some
questions that I think you ought to be focusing on in your week’s studies. If you are able to
discuss these questions, you should be in a good positon to pass this course.
You will need to read the material critically – there is often no single correct answer to any of
the questions, but there will be a range of facts and experiences that you can use to support
the arguments that you adduce.
Required Textbook
None – there is no book I would be willing to recommend. You will need to search for material
on the internet and in magazines (and sometimes journals). I will give you some guidance as
to materials, but we are going to depend on your finding stuff yourselves (and then telling the
other students in the class about it).
Learning Activities and Teaching Strategies
Role of Stream
Stream is Massey’s version of Moodle that you will have encountered in previous courses.
This is our learning environment – it’s our virtual classroom. It is the main place the resources
for this course are stored, and it is also where we talk with each other.
The Stream site will be available two weeks before the teaching semester officially begins. That
means you don’t have to wait to get going ‐ you can start exploring the environment and even
start reading in advance.
Weekly tasks for 125.365 study
Read the questions and then read the material. Post something on the Stream site telling us
all about what you think about the topic.
Note that we have a forum for each week’s material.
125.365 Course Guide 13
Communicating with each other
The primary means of communication, further to our interaction in the lectures, are the
Stream forums. These can be found under the Communication Tools tab on Stream. Please
use these forums to communicate with us, rather than contacting us via email. There are
several forums, each with a different purpose. They are:
News forum: This is a one‐way forum from us to you. Look here for important updates about
this course. Note that these announcements will automatically be sent to your registered
email address. If you see an email with 125.365 in the subject line, PLEASE READ IT ‐ it will be
important!
General Enquiries: Use this forum to ask your course staff questions. We will monitor this
forum.
Student Discussion: Use this forum to chat with your classmates. This forum will not be
monitored by staff.
Confidential Communication: Use this to communicate with course staff about private
matters, such as ill health, prison terms, etc.
If you "subscribe" to a forum, new messages get emailed to you (this is automatic for the
News Forum).
Communication expectations
I think it’s important that you’re really clear from the outset both what I expect of you and
what you can expect of me. Here is what you can reasonably expect of me:
●
●
responses to all discussion forum postings within 48 hours during the working week
(Monday‐Friday);
responses to any private communication within 48 hours during the working week;
Within reason, I also have a couple of expectations of you:
●
●
●
use a meaningful subject line in your discussion postings;
use the Stream discussion forums appropriately;
support your colleagues in the course – that means encourage, help, and respect your
fellow students.
125.365 Course Guide 14