This research aims to understand the effect of business models in the Asian banking industry during the most recent financial crisis, and to identify effective banking business models for the post-crisis landscape. This research was based on observations about the importance of the bank business model for reaching bank stability, as well as a lack of research that focuses on Southeast and East Asia. Its main originality is in the application of existing stability models to banks in Asia, which has rarely been tested. The research uses an econometric approach, with several methods selected (including pooled OLS, robust fixed effects, and time fixed effects) on base models. Three hypotheses were posed, tested conditions of bank stability related to diversification strategy, use of interest and non-interest income, and strength of the bank balance sheet indicators. Bank performance was modelled using seven indicators grouped in three categories (Stability, Performance, and Stock returns). The outcome of testing variables was mixed. Diversification was shown to have a nonlinear effect on bank outcomes in most cases. However, excessive diversification could be harmful. Similar results were found for the effect of Interest and Non-interest income on the indicator outcomes. The third test showed that the Cost-to-income ratio and Total assets were key balance sheet indicators, but other variables tested were not significant. Overall, the findings of the research imply that banks do need to consider their business models, since these do affect performance of the bank in economic crisis situations and overall bank stability. Also, it can be concluded that the traditional relationship banking with strong balance sheet and effective risk management system is the most appropriate model in Southeast and East Asia.

Den senaste finanskrisen har visat att det finns ett behov av ökad övervakning av aktörerna på den finansiella marknaden. Ett sätt att förbättra övervakningen är genom att öka förståelsen för företagens affärsmodeller. Syftet med detta examensarbete är att hitta likheter i affärsmodellerna hos svenska kreditinstitut och hos svenska filialer av utländska banker. Mer specifikt syftar denna studie till att hitta grupper av företag, i denna rapport kallat kluster, med liknande affärsmodell och till att identifiera existerande affärsmodeller på den svenska bankmarknaden. Informationen som användes i studien är från årsredovisningar som rapporterades till Finansinspektionen för åren 2000, 2005, 2010 och 2013.  För att möjliggöra en jämförelse mellan olika aktörers data har kvoter skapats utifrån deras balans- och resultaträkningar. För att reducera mängden data och för att få ett fåtal okorrelerade variabler användes principalkomponentanalys. Metoden som användes för att hitta klustren är en hierarkisk agglomerativ metod kallad Wards metod. Antalet kluster bestämdes genom att använda Calinski- Harabasz-index. Bootstrapping användes för att testa stabiliteten hos de identifierade klustren.  Denna studie visar att mönster existerar på den svenska bankmarknaden och att det är möjligt att hitta kluster av företag med liknande affärsmodell. Svenska filialer av utländska banker och svenska kreditinstitut har studerats separat. För svenska kreditinstitut hittades sex kluster och för att beskriva affärsmodellerna kallas de: Universalbanker, Sparbanker, Leasingföretag, Icke inlåningsfinansierade kreditinstitut, Servicefokuserade kreditinstitut och Övriga kreditinstitut. De mest stabila klustren, det vill säga de med högst likhet, är Sparbanker och Leasingföretag. Klustret med lägst likhet är Universalbanker och detta bör ses som ett mönster i använd data snarare än ett kluster. För de svenska filialerna av utländska banker hittades tre kluster och dessa kallas: Banker, Servicefokuserade kreditinstitut och Övriga kreditinstitut. Dessa kluster är stabila. / The recent financial crisis has emphasized the need for improved supervision of the actors on the financial market. One way to improve supervision is through better understanding of business models. The aim with this thesis is to find similarities in business models for Swedish credit institutions and for Swedish branches of foreign banks. More specific this study aims to find groups of companies, in this paper called clusters, with similar business models and identify existing business models in the banking market. The data used in this study are financial statements reported to the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority for the years 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2013. In order to compare the companies’ data, ratios from the income statements and balance sheets have been created. To reduce the amount of data and arrive at a smaller set of uncorrelated variables, principal component analysis was used. The method used for finding the clusters was a hierarchical agglomerative clustering method called Ward’s method. The number of clusters was determined using Calinski-Harabasz index. Bootstrapping was used in order to test cluster stability. This study shows that patterns in the Swedish banking sector exist and that it is possible to find clusters of companies with similar business models. Swedish branches of foreign banks have been treated separately from Swedish credit institutions. For Swedish credit institutions a division into six clusters was found to be most suitable and in order to describe the business model the clusters are named: Universal banks, Savings banks, Leasing companies, Non-deposit funded credit institutions, Service-focused credit institutions and Other credit institutions. The most stable clusters, that are the clusters with highest similarity, are Savings banks and Leasing companies. The cluster with lowest stability is Universal banks and it could be considered as a pattern in the data rather than a cluster. For Swedish branches of foreign banks, three clusters were found to be most suitable and the clusters are named: Banks, Service-focused credit institutions and Other credit institutions. These clusters are stable.