Abstract

Decision-making Problems in Banking

The objective of an optimal structure of assets and liabilities in the banking business could not be obtained with the operating rules practised hitherto. They could not ensure the required liquidity safeguards, nor attainment of the other objectives, profitability and security. This is due to the fact that the liquidity problem cannot be considered in isolation, but only in the context of the entire activities of a bank. But for that an overall planning model is required, in which all competing objectives are included. To this end, allowance must be made for the uncertainty of the data by choosing the preference function, which contains the profit and risk aspects, as the objective function and ensuring liquidity by way of constraints. However, even the the information provided by a planning model cannot remove the burden of decision-making itself from the bank manager. The model serves merely as preparation for the decision. But the elaboration of models compels clear formulation of the objective, enumeration of the possible alternative courses of action and analysis of the functional relationsships in the bank, in order to as certain what effects the possible courses of action in the lending and borrowing business will have on the desired objective. So from the golden rule of banking in the narrow, object-related sense of Hübner, via Wagner’s group-related approach already extended by the inactive deposits theorem and the more advanced ideas of Knies and Stützel decisionmaking rules are developing in the direction of formulating models capable of solving questions as to optimal organization of banking activities.