Throughout the text, special features have been integrated to encourage students’ interaction with the text and to aid them in absorbing the material.

• Learning objectives that outline the skills you should have obtained upon completion of the chapter.
• Each chapter begins with a short introduction that sets the theme of the chapter you are about to explore.
• The chapter examples provide numerical demonstrations of the analytics described in various chapters.
• Bold key terms in the text and margins emphasise the main terms and concepts throughout each chapter. These highlight the most important terms and aid in studying. These terms also appear in a summarised list at the end of each chapter and in the glossary at the back of the book.
• Perspectives boxes demonstrate the application of chapter material to real current events, include Historic perspective, Technological perspective, Industry perspective, Regulator’s perspective and Global perspective.
• Concept questions allow you to test yourself on the main concepts within each major chapter section.
• Extended learning sections appear in selected chapters to distinguish more challenging material for you to investigate.
• Figures and tables are used to illustrate examples presented within the chapters.
• Questions and problems which are written for varied levels of difficulty, allow you to practice a variety of skills using the same data or set of circumstances.
• Web questions allow you to research relevant websites and test your knowledge.
• Appendixes are used for advanced and added concepts, e.g. Chapter 1Appendix 1C deals with selected New Zealand bank industry statistics.
• Pertinent websites appear throughout each chapter as well as at the end of each chapter. These guide you to the most recent issues and data on the Web.