Feedback needed: Is the profitability of banks adequate?

[David]

You can now set up and run a bank since version 6.1.00.

Details of the banking system: https://www.capitalismlab.com/banking-dlc/

Download link: https://www.capitalism2.com/forum/viewt ... =52&t=6996

In your testing, do you think the profitability of banks is adequate?

It is advisable that you play the game for an extended period of time (e.g. 30 years) before drawing a conclusion, as a bank's profitability, while may not be large initially, can be more stable and subject less to fierce competition in comparison with other industries and can be a highly reliable source of income. From a gameplay balance point of view, it is important to consider all these factors.

Update upon the release of version 6.1.02
In response to the initial poll result, we have increased the capacity of a bank branch by 33%, thus reducing the number of bank branches that a bank must set up for serving customers, As a result of this change, a bank’s profitability also increases.

Please test the new version and let us know if you still think a bank's profitability is still too low. If so, please also let us know how much adjustment you think we should make at this post: https://www.capitalism2.com/forum/viewt ... =52&t=7004

p.s. In order to more accurately gauge the feedback from the new version, I have reset the poll.

Update upon the release of version 6.1.11
The new version changed the bank ratio's formula and thus increased banks' profitability. I have reset the poll. Please vote again using the latest version.

[standardplayer]

Banks Typically Have ~20%-30%+ profit margin which creates a return on bank equity of ~7%-12%.

[David]

Thanks for the note. But this time we are seeking feedback from the actual gameplay experience - whether the player found the bank's profitability reasonable in relative to other industries in the game.

[beamthegreat]

Before I begin, I'd like to state that I'm playing at a really high difficulty but I don't think this influence the profitability of banks. IMO, the first thing I noticed was that the amount of bank branches required to keep the customer wait time low is way too high. In my last run I had 15+ branches per city but the wait time was almost always above 30. I think drastically increasing the cost and also increasing the capacity per bank branch would make the gameplay more enjoyable. Maybe add a smaller single story bank branch so players can afford it during early game.

The profit margins of banks seems realistic, but gameplay wise the profits feels slightly too low. The only way to make a satisfactory ROE is to have high customer deposits relative to your own capital (like a real bank), but during late game you will have excess capital and this will lower your profits to really unpleasant levels. And beyond a certain limit, if you inject too much capital into the bank, there will be insufficient borrowers/customers deposits and there will be excess cash in your bank leading to abysmal profit levels.

[JasonLJJ]

Interest margins seem realistic. It would be great if you could correlate the growth in loan demand / customer deposits with local city GDP as the three are somewhat correlated. Also, when advertising in one of the branches (on internet company), the brand rating slowly declines to zero in the city of the branch which I advertise in while the brand rating increases in other cities...

It would be helpful to have an option to take surplus capital out of the bank in the form of dividends for the bank, along with subsidiaries and the holding company.

Also, is there a reason why the main player character is unable to deposit any money into the bank?

[David]

Before I begin, I'd like to state that I'm playing at a really high difficulty but I don't think this influence the profitability of banks. IMO, the first thing I noticed was that the amount of bank branches required to keep the customer wait time low is way too high. In my last run I had 15+ branches per city but the wait time was almost always above 30. I think drastically increasing the cost and also increasing the capacity per bank branch would make the gameplay more enjoyable. Maybe add a smaller single story bank branch so players can afford it during early game.

It is actually one of the gameplay decisions that you would make when running a bank - whether it would be in your bank's interest to keep the customers waiting in queue as long as it does not drastically affect the overall service quality for the benefit of keeping the operating costs down, or to provide the best service quality at all costs.

In essence, you don't need to keep the customer waiting time below 30 to be successful. You will see that the banks operated by AI tend to have a customer waiting time that is in the range of 50 to 70.

[beamthegreat]

In essence, you don't need to keep the customer waiting time below 30 to be successful. You will see that the banks operated by AI tend to have a customer waiting time that is in the range of 50 to 70.

I see! But in my opinion, I still feel there are slightly too many bank branches per city...

It would be helpful to have an option to take surplus capital out of the bank in the form of dividends for the bank, along with subsidiaries and the holding company.

Yes. We definitely need this feature. I once when bankrupt because I transferred too much capital into the bank and couldn't take it out.

[David]

It would be helpful to have an option to take surplus capital out of the bank in the form of dividends for the bank, along with subsidiaries and the holding company.

You may change the transfer mode – whether it is to transfer funds from the bank to its parent corporation, or vice versa, by clicking on the Arrow icon above the [Transfer to bank] button .

We will add some help about this in the next update.

[lefaor]

It would be helpful to have an option to take surplus capital out of the bank in the form of dividends for the bank, along with subsidiaries and the holding company.

You may change the transfer mode – whether it is to transfer funds from the bank to its parent corporation, or vice versa, by clicking on the Arrow icon above the [Transfer to bank] button .

We will add some help about this in the next update.

maybe you can put somethign for avoid than the ia pull money from the bank, its annoying the message when a subsidiary dont have money you put from the corp and then the ia pull and the message show again and again

[David]

maybe you can put somethign for avoid than the ia pull money from the bank, its annoying the message when a subsidiary dont have money you put from the corp and then the ia pull and the message show again and again

I don't quite understand what you meant. Could you please elaborate? In what way did you see the AI pull money from the bank?