To prepare students for the University of Roehampton assignments, including writing the research proposal and the Bachelor thesis; - To learn to pay close attention to the structural requirements specified; - To introduce the concept and process of literature review, including in-text citations and references in Harvard style; - To demonstrate application of the key terms and concepts introduced in the course, including use of supportive visuals; - To develop critical thinking skills; - To develop the skills of synthesising and making recommendations based on the findings obtained. Title: Customer-centric FinTech startups: a case of neobanking Cover page: Title (you may change the title accordingly, depending on the bank chosen), your name and ID, word count –mandatory (excluding the cover page, Table of Contents, References, and Appendix), course name, lecturer’s name (see above) 2nd page: Table of Contents (reflecting the structure of your assignment - numbered headings and sub-headings - with the page numbers provided) Structure (to be observed in ToC):

1. Introduction Outline the topic and the objectives of your paper. Introduce all the key terms and concepts. Make sure to cite correctly. You may use a mind map to represent the key concepts and how they are interconnected (Fig. 1 with a caption).

2. Literature review (=reading publications on the topic stemming from credible sources, highlighting most relevant information to be synthesised, paraphrased, and cited) See, e.g., https://www.scribbr.com/dissertation/literature-review/ Review 3-5 publications (including 1-2 academic articles/papers) and business reports (e.g. from McKinsey Quarterly) related to the concept of FinTech (and FinTech start-ups). Specifically, look into ‘neobanking’, with the focus on trends and changing consumer behaviour.

3. Mini case study: Soldo, Qonto, N26 or another neobank known to you (adjust the heading appropriately) In this section, focus on one the neobank of your choice (prioritise the one you happen to be a customer of). Briefly introduce your chosen neobank and then address the following questions in separate sub-sections with headings: 2 - How does this bank define its success? For this, study its website and other information/reports available online, especially with regard to the mission statement, vision, ‘about us’/’our story’ - Who are the target customers? What is/are the target customer group(s) any why? - How do customers (including B2B) contribute to its success/growth? Take a look at the success stories, referrals/testimonials, and customer reviews, for example. - How does this start-up approach customer experience (CX) and how does it manage the customer journey (e.g. what are the touchpoints, how is customer loyalty is developed, etc.)? What is the role of a customer success manager here and why has the bank recently created this new position? Support all the statements/claims, examples with citations [e.g. “According to X & Y (publication year)…”]. You may use visuals (including screenshots., e.g. of success stories), but number them and provide meaningful captions underneath, as well as refer to them in the text (e.g. “As displayed in Fig. 2….”). Note that your own figures (created by you) have more academic value (if they are ‘primary’ = not copied from secondary sources). Any time you draw ideas for your figure on existing secondary figures or information, cite the source in the caption (e.g. “adapted from”, “based on” + source citation).

4. Strategic recommendations This section should demonstrate your ability to put forward your own opinions, ideas, and suggestions. Based on the literature review/background research and Section 3, as well as your own experience as a banking customer, what recommendations would you offer to traditional banks when it comes to lessons in consumer behaviour? How can they improve their customer success management, taking (future) trends in customer behaviour into account? And vice versa: what can nonbanks learn from traditional/legacy banks? Also, what customer pain points should be addressed to enhance customer experience? As for the customer journey, would you recommend any particular actions at any particular touch points? Finally, you may extend/generalise the recommendation to other industries.

5. Conclusion Briefly summarise your findings in relation to the questions answered in the previous sections. References Alphabetically list all the publications (including online sources). URLs/links only do not count as references. - - - - Note: Make sure to cite (throughout the assignment) and reference (in the last section) all the sources used, closely following the Harvard referencing style. Write in your own words and paraphrase as much as possible in order to avoid plagiarism. Structure your paper accordingly, make use of sub-sections with meaningful headings (e.g. 4.1, 4.2. 4.3, 4.4)