Teaching with it
A free bank simulation for finance, banking and risk courses: students run a bank through the funding stack, the capital stack, the credit desk, the agencies and the supervisor, in real jurisdictions and years.
Take office →Going Concern is a free, browser-based bank simulation written in the register of the trade. Students take office as chief executive and learn, by running the bank and by failing, why capital, liquidity, funding and credit discipline matter. No installation, no cost.
What students work with
- The balance sheet and the identity the engine enforces every month.
- The funding stack: deposits by product, certificates of deposit, senior paper, covered bonds, Tier 2 and AT1, the placement book, the central bank's facility, LCR and NSFR.
- The capital stack: Basel I to III as they applied, the buffers, Pillar 2, the maximum distributable amount, the annual review and its letter, IRB permission, resolution and bail-in.
- The credit desk: product design, authorities, the memorandum, stages and provisions, concentration, recoveries, securitisation.
- The market and the public: three rating agencies, the macro calendar, the earnings call, reputation in two channels, the board and the general meeting.
- The Handbook: one article per mechanic with a sandbox, and the exams that point at them.
Five seminar ideas
- The same world. Give the class one duel code: everyone gets the identical economy, so differences in results come only from decisions. Compare the balance sheets at year five.
- The 2008 appointment. Pair the 2008 start with a reading on the real crisis. Which failures did students reproduce, and which did they avoid?
- The SVB trade. Take office in 2020 in the United States, build a long held-to-maturity book against corporate deposits, and watch the 2022 hiking cycle on ALCO. Then do it hedged.
- The exam as the assessment. The wholesale funding exam is eight open-book questions, each pointing at its Handbook chapter. Students sit it in the game; the letter of the board grades them.
- The post-mortem. When a career ends the notice on paper names the cause. Students present the notice and the three decisions they would change.
Practical details
- Free, with no advertising.
- Runs in any modern browser on a laptop; it is desktop software, not a phone game.
- A guided first year walks a new player through the desk in twelve game months.
- It is a simulation for learning. It is not financial advice and uses no real money.
Frequently asked questions
Which level is it suited to?
Undergraduate and graduate courses in banking, finance and risk, professional training in treasury and credit, and self-study by people entering the trade. It assumes the vocabulary; the Handbook and the learn articles fill the gaps.
Do students need to install anything?
No. It runs in the browser on laptops. Careers save on the device, or to an account.
How long does a seminar take?
The guided first year fits in a double session. A full career spans several sessions; a short appointment of five years with a medal fits in one.
Run a bank. Stay one.
A bank in a real jurisdiction in a real year, run from a terminal: the funding stack, the capital stack, the credit desk, the agencies, the supervisor and the board. Free, in the browser.