Kelvin Teo, Group CEO of peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform Funding Societies Pte Ltd, has submitted an application for a Singapore digital wholesale bank (DWB) licence to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Singapore's central bank and financial regulator. For the purpose of this application, Funding Societies had set up a consortium with smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi Corp, investment bank AMTD Group, and electricity and gas grid operator SP Group. The questions that the case tackles include: Should Funding Societies remain a P2P lending platform or seek to become a digital bank? What were its reasons for choosing to team up with this specific set of consortium partners? Why did Funding Societies abandon its initial plan to be lead partner of the consortium? If the application failed, what should be its back-up plan?

Emerging Hope Lanka was founded by Nilushika Silva Jayaweera ("Nilu"), a domestic worker-turned-entrepreneur in 2016. She had left her hometown in Sri Lanka, orphaned and penniless, to work in Singapore some 16 years earlier. Her determination and thirst for knowledge was the driving force that led her to persevere through the tough times, and she eventually returned to her birthplace to start a tea business as well as Emerging Hope Lanka, a not-for-profit organisation that educates and economically empowers poor rural women in Sri Lanka. Drawing inspiration from her own life journey, Nilu had established Emerging Hope Lanka to motivate women who are struggling with poverty to be financially independent. In March 2020, as she looks back on the four years of running Emerging Hope Lanka, Nilu feels a deep sense of fulfilment. Some 55 women had graduated from her micro-entrepreneurship programme and gone on to start their own businesses running mini-marts, spice-packing, dressmaking, etc. For these women, it was a big step towards supporting their families as they had been financially reliant on their husbands in the past. While she would like to reach out to more women, Nilu has to evaluate cautiously the loan requests of prospective participants in her programme. A case in point is a debt-laden mother of two children, who is urgently in need of financial assistance. While wanting to help, Nilu however senses that a one-time loan may not be the best solution and the woman may return to ask for more funds. How can she help the woman to tide through this difficult period, while instilling the notion of financial independence to ensure future sustainability of the family's livelihood?

The case is set in 2015, when DBS Bank applied to the Reserve Bank of India to operate as a locally incorporated subsidiary under the wholly-owned subsidiary (WOS) scheme. DBS had a presence in India since 1995 and had grown to become the fifth largest foreign bank by assets. Upbeat about the growth prospects, it was the first foreign bank to apply for the conversion from branch operation to WOS. The scheme would extend near-equal treatment to locally-incorporated foreign banks as with national banks, and it aimed to incentivise them to scale up their operations in return for opening new branches in under-banked and unbanked cities and issuing credit to companies categorised under the priority lending sectors. However, the past year had been challenging for DBS India. Its profitability had taken a hit as bad loans rose more than four-fold, climbing to the top of the list among all private banks in India. The bad debts were primarily due to delayed servicing of loans by construction companies, which were granted credit during a previous period of aggressive lending. The case discusses the opportunities and challenges the WOS brings to DBS India, leading to its final decision to apply for the scheme.

Supplement to case SMU413. This case is a two-part series on the value of faculty teaching forums and peer coaching programmes in resolving conflicting pedagogical philosophies. Case A is set in September 2009, shortly after James Nelson, assistant professor at Singapore Management University sought guidance from practice associate professor Harry Denon on the issue of declining student ratings of his teaching performance. Den then observes Nelson's lectures, and has in-depth discussions with him on his teaching style. The discussions prove very helpful to Nelson, who is now able to decide how he should approach his class and to what extent he needs to alter his teaching approach. The case looks at the value of feedback received by faculty through various lenses: students, peer and self-reflection. It is highly suitable for faculty development and executive education courses that cover different pedagogical philosophies and the effectiveness of student appraisal processes. In Case B, Nelson reflects on his peer coaching experience and how his thought process has evolved through the course of the coaching programme. He also describes some of the changes he made in his instructional strategy and course assessment methods, and reveals how he has refined his teaching philosophy.

In October 2008, State Bank of India (SBI), India's largest state-owned bank, makes its foray into Singapore's consumer banking market. A year into operations, Anil Kishora, chief executive officer of SBI, Singapore, is charged to double the remittance earnings in the next 12 months, an onerous task for a young branch that is just finding its feet in a new market. Yet Kishora's team manages to successfully meet the target - remittance volume rose by 96% in ten months. Despite these successes, Kishora is aware of the challenges that lay ahead. Remittances have been a quick win and have yielded the necessary cash flow for the new division. But will the growth from remittance earnings be sustainable over the longer term? How can SBI establish a strong presence and build an identity in Singapore's mature and fiercely competitive market, beyond the remittance story?

This case is a two-part series on the value of faculty teaching forums and peer coaching programmes in resolving conflicting pedagogical philosophies. Case A is set in September 2009, shortly after James Nelson, assistant professor at Singapore Management University sought guidance from practice associate professor Harry Denon on the issue of declining student ratings of his teaching performance. Den then observes Nelson's lectures, and has in-depth discussions with him on his teaching style. The discussions prove very helpful to Nelson, who is now able to decide how he should approach his class and to what extent he needs to alter his teaching approach. The case looks at the value of feedback received by faculty through various lenses: students, peer and self-reflection. It is highly suitable for faculty development and executive education courses that cover different pedagogical philosophies and the effectiveness of student appraisal processes. In Case B, Nelson reflects on his peer coaching experience and how his thought process has evolved through the course of the coaching programme. He also describes some of the changes he made in his instructional strategy and course assessment methods, and reveals how he has refined his teaching philosophy.

Supplement to case SMU382. Dunia B is a follow up case to Dunia A, but can also be taught independently. This case discusses the challenges faced by the chief risk officer Raman Krishna after the launch of Dunia, during a time of unprecedented uncertainty in the midst of the 2008 worldwide financial crisis. During this time it has become difficult to manage the sales force and their motivation on account of ever tightening credit criteria and the inevitable reduction in loan volumes. There is a real need to understand how, and from where, to source a sufficient number of potential borrowers who will satisfy the revised criteria and also enable Dunia to meet their planned growth numbers. Dunia has been cautious with its first couple loans, but as it begins to loan out the remainder of its portfolio, the company needs to make some tough decisions on how to make the lending business work with such widespread uncertainty. In the Dunia B case, participants experience the challenges of pursuing profit with quality (versus quantity) growth. It provides students an opportunity to discuss the challenges of credit evaluation and approval strategies, as well as credit risk management, faced by a new financial institution. The instructor can also guide a discussion on the reliability of traditional rule-based models as opposed to a judgment-based approach.

This case is a two-part series on Dunia. Case A is set in 2008, where founder CEO Rajeev Kakar has just spent 20 months setting up Dunia, a finance company in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The enterprise originated from a partnership between his former employer, Fullerton Financial Holdings (FFH) and a couple of key entities in the UAE that were keen on building a financial presence in the region. On September 15, 2008 - as the Dunia team is preparing to announce the opening of its first branch in Abu Dhabi - news breaks on the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. For Kakar, it means that the product programmes he has lined up, as well as his funding assumptions for Dunia, have crashed. Dunia A deals with the time frame before the launch of the company and covers factors such as pricing risk and uncertainty, along with a broader view that covers the struggles presented with new ventures and entrepreneurship.