The drawbacks in the service operations of the Indian public sector banks include high cost per employee and lower service quality compared to private and foreign banks. This article for the first time confirms the application of lean thinking for process improvement of service operations in an Indian public sector bank through ‘value stream mapping’. The article uses action research methodology and two case studies that describe the process and outcomes of the action research to achieve the objective of studying the applicability of lean thinking and lean tools in process improvement of bank branches. The results of introducing lean thinking in the branches of the public sector bank in India were efficiency improvements through lower wait time for customers and lower stress levels for employees, besides increased customer satisfaction, profit and business—factors which justify and support the use of lean thinking in banks.

This paper studies the erosion of ethics in credit derivative leading to devastating losses to a financial intermediary, JP Morgan, in a scandal that had one of its protagonists earning the moniker the "London Whale." In the process, the paper suggests that the higher management will have to foresee how the limitations are imposed on the market values of the synthetic credit portfolio to avoid further breaches to be caused in other bank metrics. The accounting sectors will have to consider sub-methods like an integrated financial information system for purposes of accuracy to prevent the London whale from economic depressions.

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This paper synthesizes the details of the whole accounting misdeed using Repo-105 as an instrument in the Lehman Brothers' case. Roles and responsibilities of internal staffs and vendors have been discussed to access on a high level responsibility and the ownership assessment of this financial fiasco. The paper discusses in detail the notion of Business ethics in the context of financial intermediary using the concept of "Deontological Ethics" as a premise with a relevance to capital market and cost of reputation. The paper suggests improving the management culture and the independence of external bodies in these firms.

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UN has adopted poverty reduction and women empowerment as one of the sustainable development goals. Financial literacy is emerging as an essential tool to achieve financial inclusion through microfinance. Particularly with the advent of a pandemic such as COVID-19, the use of technology has increased manifold. Thus, the importance of financial literacy to ensure the sustainability of self-help groups has grown tremendously. There is a shortage of literature that measures the impact of financial literacy on the financial behavior of the members of self-help groups in India. Moreover, research establishes that rote financial education leads to dormant knowledge with financial outcomes. Through the lens of Theory of Planned Behavior, the study demonstrates the mediating role of financial attitude and financial efficacy in explaining the relationship between financial knowledge and financial behavior. Peer influence leads to financial knowledge and behavior. But financial attitude is developed only through financial knowledge. Also, financial attitude enhances the impact of financial knowledge and peer influence on financial behavior. This study uses the partial least square structural equation modeling method for the data analysis, and the results establish that financial knowledge and attitude positively impact behavior. Financial attitude and efficacy mediate the relationship between financial knowledge and financial behavior. Thus, an individual’s emotional disposition should be considered while designing social intermediation initiatives. Also, social learning through peer influence can be extremely helpful in promoting sound financial habits.

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