Business Finance Capstone

Students will participate in banking internships providing hands-on experience as bank tellers and branch operations. Second-year students will be able to experience commercial loans, customer service, investment banking, treasury management, and other areas of bank operations. Interns will gain knowledge of evolving issues faced by the banking industry and learn in-depth banking laws and regulatory procedures while working with experienced professionals to understand safe and sound banking practices.

The following learning targets represent the major concepts studied and assessed in this course.

SEMESTER 1

 

UNIT 1

Employment Skills

• Develop a resume and cover letter to apply for a position with the student bank. 
• Illustrate how students build good-quality resumes, model the best interviewing techniques, and conduct interviews.
• Instructor-led illustrations, whereby students will learn all positions of a student-run bank. 
• Compare similarities to a full-service commercial bank to develop critical skills for students to enter business careers. 
• Instructor-led illustrations, whereby students will learn all positions of a student-run bank.
• Learn about careers in banking and the implementation of specific job application procedures.

Career Success

• Develop your financial goals so that you become future-focused instead of solely focused on the present.
• Investigate additional career opportunities in business finance.
• Evaluate alternative ways of saving and investing.
• Learn the constraints and influences on personal financial planning.
• Learn the opportunity costs of any financial decision.
• Learn how to develop a career plan.

UNIT 2 

Federal Reserve System

• Define terminology related to cash control and banking activities. 

• Introduce banking’s role in the economy. 
• Introduce the various types of financial institutions.
• Learn about careers in banking and the Federal Reserve System and its control of interest rates and money supply.
• Illustrate the development of US banking over time.
• Introduce the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the changes in banking philosophy, the long-term low interest rates, and what it foretells
• Learn the key components that fuel the economy and how the size of the Federal Government affects the level of taxation.
• Learn the components of where the Government spends the Federal budget

UNIT 3

Financial Institutions

• Introduce the role of the bank employee with its essential privacy requirements and responsibilities.
• Learn about the various services that banks and credit unions provide and the individual job positions of each institution.
• Introduce the function of the bank in the community and the money multiplier effect of banks.
• Introduce the bank as a business organization versus credit unions, versus finance and loan companies.
• Outline the deposit function and money control
• Illustrate the type and ownership of accounts
• Learn the procedures needed to function as a bank, and the role of the bank in the community is introduced.
• Learn how customers make deposits. The types of deposit items and how to process them.
• Explain how the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the types of accounts it insures 

UNIT 4

Bank Operations/Transactions

• Understand the role of Bank Operations. Be able to identify and explain the individual banking departments and their contribution to the bank's success.
• Define terminology related to deposit functions and compare and contrast other financial institutions.
• Identify the type and ownership of accounts. Apply each type of account to differing situational needs and discuss.
• Explain the authority to open accounts (age and independent status) and access to those accounts.
• Classify the types of deposit items used in a bank and the purposes of each.
• Illustrate how customers make deposits. Demonstrate the types of deposits, withdrawals, and other demand items (check cashing) and how to process them.
• Demonstrate proper teller procedures.

 

SEMESTER 2 

UNIT 5 

Checking and Debit

• Define and understand the terminology related to payable items.
• Identify and familiarize with encoding and proofing of payable items and vulnerabilities.
• Identify and familiarize with Item capture and sorting.
• Introduce clearing alternatives and the history of payables clearing from Fed check processing and facsimile filing, now used.
• Understand the receipt timing and process by the paying bank.
• Summarize the Document examination, counterfeit currency, and other fraudulent payable items.
• Elaborate on statements for customers and hidden costs associated with services.
• Explain the dishonored items process and fee policies often used by banks. Ensure students understand fee avoidance measures.

 

UNIT 6 

Marketing/Cross Selling and Business 

• Explain and demonstrate market research, competitive sales strategies, customer service, methods of execution, public relations initiatives, media, pricing, and customer support.
• Explain and illustrate banking cross-selling efforts.
• Explain the Development of a desirable image and protecting that image.
• Facilitate the planning process for events and develop strategies to ensure success and encourage repeat customer traffic.
• Explain advertising as distinct from the marketing plan and the ways that advertising affects the customer perception and patronage. Introducing the lending function.

UNIT 7

Lending

• Introducing the lending function.
• Classify the parties to Negotiable Instruments and their liabilities.
• Introduce the concepts of legal restriction and lending policy parameters.
• Learn to read and understand the credit report as the leading indicator of creditworthiness. Apply this knowledge by interpreting a tri-report.
• Learn key components of the loan categories of real estate, consumer, secured, and unsecured.
• Understand the importance of credit lending through banking.

 

UNIT 8

Investment/ Wealth Management

• Illustrate the power of compounding and the damage of inflation? 
• Describe and illustrate the characteristics of Stock Funds, Government and Corporate Bond Funds, and others. 
• Learn about managed Funds (mutual funds) versus Indexed Funds 
• Introduce the safety and risk of the Stock Market, and select an investment strategy appropriate for individual circumstances. 
• Explain stock investment basics and the ways to invest in the Stock Market for wealth and retirement. 
• Familiarize students with important investment terms and categories of achieving wealth through 401K, IRA, and ROTH IRA retirement accounts. 
• Learn about past investment scams that rocked confidence, including examples of Ponzi Schemes, the failure of ENRON, and WorldCom. Learn about the successes of famous investors and why they were successful.