If the reader is looking for a book that tells of the perks of opening a checking account at a bank, this text is the wrong choice. Banking beyond banks and money is a compendium of in-depth articles detailing the individual authors’ make-up of 21st century financial institutions. The contributors are finance individuals basically from the continent, but given the reality of global monetary deals, this is not a criticism.
After a brief introduction by the editors, the authors lay out descriptions of the newest organizational principles being used and/or proposed in financial institutions today.
The first three chapters detail the fundamentals of crowdfunding, that is, the use of social media to locate potential investors, and its counterpart crowdsourcing. The whole idea of peer-to-peer (P2P) lending is explained and the benefits detailed.
The remaining chapter topics include shadow banking, the value of Bitcoin, decentralized banking, trustless computing, P2P networks, modern banking ledgers through blockchain technologies, and predictions for the future of banking.
The book is definitely meant for a niche audience: those whose whole careers depend on innovations in the banking and financing world. The discussions are very sophisticated and definitely not meant for the casual reader.