At the end of the course, students will be able to understand the trends and changing pattern in bank intermediation models and their key attributes in terms of profitability and risks, considering the evolution of the crisis and the NPLs. Students will gain a basic knowledge of the main business areas of bank management, with special focus on credit and funding decisions; will also be able to identify the main drivers of bank performance and to assess them thorough the balance- sheet ratios most commonly used in empirical studies.