In his 23 years at Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial Services Group ($93 billion in assets), SVP Thomas Kunz relates, the pace of change has never been as rapid as it is today -- not even when he was in charge of the bank's e-business initiatives during the Internet boom. As SVP and director of payments strategies, Kunz says it is his responsibility to deliver relevant technology solutions to customers in that rapidly changing environment. BS&T: What is your role at PNC Financial Services? What is the reporting structure? Kunz: We call it director of payments strategies. The other top 20 banks have created similar positions. But we're all wrestling with how to be effective in these roles and make a difference for our institutions. I report to our CIO, Timothy Shack, and I also have dotted-line responsibility to PNC's president, Joseph Guyaux. I have a small centralized staff that reports to me. In my e-business role, the online channel reports through me. BS&T: What are the key payments challenges facing PNC? Kunz: We're all challenged to stay relevant for our customers in a rapidly evolving technology environment. We're also seeing increased competition from new entrants using innovation to find a way into the payments business or into the banking space through payments. Understanding the pace of change and investing in the right technologies and delivering those to the customer are challenges. BS&T: Do these new entrants present a real threat? Kunz: We're well positioned in our role as trusted provider, and if we continue to stay relevant for our customers, we'll be fine. I can go industry by industry and name the top players encroaching on a piece of the payments business. Some of these players are encroaching deliberately, and sometimes they are just supporting their core businesses, such as Wal-Mart [Bentonville, Ark.] and PayPal [San Jose, Calif.]. But also having an impact is the convergence of healthcare and financial services, and the convergence of mobile telecom capabilities and financial services. While there is no one entity that keeps us awake at night, it's the collective impact of all these players that will make a difference. As the incumbent, we have to both protect and grow our franchise, and that can mean making changes in how we do business. BS&T: What impact will the healthcare convergence have on payments? Kunz: As consumer-directed healthcare continues to evolve in the U.S., we've got to make the payments piece more real time and enable customers to save for their healthcare. Roughly 15 percent of healthcare costs are in administration, claims and payments processes. Consumer-directed healthcare means deposits will be up for grabs as consumers take deposits out of their retail accounts or employee-funded plans. We're a large enabler of that change among health insurance providers and large hospitals and healthcare providers. BS&T: What are some of the key technology initiatives at PNC that will keep the institution relevant for its customers? Kunz: PNC recently reentered the credit card business, and we view that as a vital component of our customers' payments relationship. To support our business customers that need to accept plastic, we've restructured our merchant services business with First Data Corp. [Denver]. The bridge between paper and electronic in the check world is image. We've been investing in imaging, including image exchange, online statements and remote deposit capture (RDC) for our business customers. We view RDC as a disruptive technology in the small-business market. Customers moving from paper to electronic often are increasingly willing to do more and more online, so we have very large initiatives around authentication and increasing self-service capabilities in the online space.

For some time, various remarks have been bruited concerning appreciation of the Chinese currency Renminbi (RMB). Some international interest groups, with an eye to their own benefits, imposed upward pressure on the RMB and even politicized this economic issue. A short time ago, Governor of the People’s Bank of China Zhou Xiaochuan stated that the exchange rate of the RMB would not be reevaluated and that the rate would remain stable. The current exchange rate of the RMB, based on market supply and demand, follows a unitary floating exchange rate system that is subject to management. After experiencing the international pressure for appreciation, the RMB exchange rate seems to emerge amidst perplexing forces. However, the upward pressure still exists and will last for quite a long time. Source of the Pressure Tracing the international pressure for RMB appreciation, one finds that it began in Japan and later spread to Europe, the United States and elsewhere. In recent years, the Japanese Government, to solve its domestic economic problems, deliberately induced devaluation of the yen, but the move has yielded minimal results. To diver their domestic difficulties, some Japanese government officials began to direct their target of attack on the RMB and went about selling their ideas worldwide, aiming to pressure the RMB to appreciate. Readjustment of the US exchange rate policy has added pressure on RMB appreciation. The United States, while bent on balancing its fiscal and trade deficits, also tried to seek a solution in the exchange rate. It began to change the strong US dollar policy that had been carried out for nearly a decade and kept devaluation of the US dollar made some European and East Asian countries worry about competition from China’s export commodities. To a varying extent, they also joined the ranks calling for the appreciation of the RMB. Obviously, international opinion has exaggerated the negative impact of the stable RMB exchange rate. In fact, the practice of maintaining the stability of the RMB exchange rate does not mean fixing it. Since the merging of the RMB exchange rate, a relatively flexible floating system has been in effect, with appreciation and devaluation vis-à-vis other currencies at different times in various degrees. After the outbreak of the Asian financial crisis in 1997, the currency exchange rate of many countries and regions against the US dollar fell by more than a dozen of even several hundred percent. Under this circumstance, the Chinese Government promised not to devalue the RMB. Since then, the exchange rate of the RMB against the US dollar has been fluctuating within a narrow range. However, in general, the exchange rates of the RMB against the currencies of China’s main trading partners have risen. By the end of 2002, the nominal appreciation rate of the RMB against the US dollar, euro (or Deutsch mark) and yen had stood at 5.1 percent, 17.9 percent and 17 percent respectively. Taking into account the difference in the inflation rates of these countries, the actual appreciation rate of the RMB against these currencies during the same period was 18.5 percent, 39.4 percent and 62.9 percent respectively. During this period, the highest actual appreciation rate of the RMB against the three currencies reached 45.5 percent, 71.4 percent and 93 percent respectively. The devaluation of the US dollar since 2002 has only narrowed the range of the appreciation of the RMB against other currencies, but not changed the basic feature of the RMB exchange rate as a floating rate subject to management. Hence, the calls for the appreciation of the RMB exchange rate are voices in the wilderness. Stability Benefits Economy To maintain the stability of the RMB exchange rate evidently helps create a sound environment for China’s economic development. For enterprises, maintaining the basic stability of the RMB exchange rate is conducive to their cost accounting and expanding their foreign trade. For overseas investors, the practice can protect their investment interests. More importantly, the stability of the RMB exchange rate is conducive to the operation of the central bank’s monetary policy, to overcoming the tendency of deflation, and promoting China’s economic development and financial stability. The economies of China and many developed countries are highly supplementary. These countries mainly import primary and light industrial products from China, which is conducive to adjusting their industrial structures and upgrading their economic development levels. Meanwhile, China’s low-cost labor and relatively cheap prices for export commodities help enhance the actual income level of the residents of importing countries, stimulate the growth of consumption in other fields and drive up economic growth. The appreciation of the RMB exchange rate would have wiped out these benefits. At present, the global economy has resumed growing after experiencing a brief and mild recession. The prospects for revival, however, are unclear and unoptimistic, as uncertainties on the international financial market have increased. To maintain the brisk momentum of China’s economic development and the stability of the RMB exchange rate will help promote the growth of regional and world economies and maintain international financial stability, thereby extending support to the world economy as it is managing to recover and to the fluctuating international financial market. In this sense, the stability of the RMB exchange rate will benefit both Chinese enterprises and the global economy. Completing the Exchange Rate System The current exchange rate system suits China’s present stage of economic development, the bearing capacity of enterprises and the regulation level of financial institutions. However, the incomplete exchange rate formation mechanism has drawn great concern from management authorities. Owing to the lack of an effective domestic and overseas foreign exchange market mechanism, the awareness of enterprises and residents against exchange rate risks is weak and their means for upgrading against risks on the market are insufficient. Insiders noted that on the premise of maintaining the basic stability of the RMB exchange rate, the current exchange rate system would be improved in due course, the foreign exchange market would be complete, and the floating range of the RMB exchange rate would be enlarged. The reform of the foreign exchange management system will focus on the following aspects. First, continuing to reform management over foreign exchange used in overseas investment; second, further reforming the foreign debt system and the foreign guarantee management system; third, carrying out the qualified overseas institutional investors system; fourth, discussing measures for relaxing control over the overseas transfer of legal personal assets; sixth, introducing international institution to issue RMB bonds in China on a trial basis; and seventh, expanding the operational channels of transnational companies’ capacity in China. The RMB exchange rate formation mechanism will be gradually perfected. Under a complete mechanism, the exchange rate will gradually and genuinely cater to the needs of the market, so will its appreciation and devaluation rates

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1． What educational and personal objectives do you hope to satisfy through the MBA program? (Stanford)
2． What type and level of work do you expect to be engaged in five or ten years now? (Stanford)

3． Why do you wish to pursue an MBA degree from Harvard Business School? What are your career aspirations and why? (Harvard)

4． Briefly assess your career progress to date. Elaborate on your future career plans and your motivation for pursuing a graduate degree at Kellogg. (Northwestern)

5． Briefly assess your career progress to date. How does the MMM program meets your educational needs and career goals? (Northwestern)

6． Describe how your experiences, both professional and personal, have led to your decision to pursue an MBA at the Wharton School this year. How does this decision relate to your career goals for the future? (Wharton)

7． What are your short-term and long-term career goals? How will a Columbia Business School MBA helps you achieve these goals? (Columbia)

8． What are your professional goals? How do your past and present experiences relate to those goals? (Berkeley)

9． Why are you seeking an MBA or I.M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business? What do you hope to experience and contribute? What are your plans and goals after you receive your degree? (Chicago)

10. Describe your post-graduation career plans. How will your education, experience, and development to date support those plans? How will an MBA from the University of Michigan Business School help you attain your goals? (Michigan)

11. Why do you wish to pursue the LFM Program and, in particular, the engineering program you selected? (Please be review your application.) How does this fit with your future plans? (MIT)


1． Discuss a difficult or painful professional experience from which you get valuable lesson. (Stanford)

2． Describe a setback, disappointment, or occasion of failure that you have experienced. How did you manage the situation, and what did you learn form it? (Harvard)

3． Discuss a non-academic situation which you were disappointed in yourself. Tell us how it has affected you personally and / or professionally. (Columbia)

4． If you have ever received a failing grade, been placed on Academic Probation, or been dismissed from any school, please explain. Discuss the circumstances if you attended more than one undergraduate college or began a graduate program that you did not complete. If appropriate, include an explanation of any extraordinary circumstances influencing your academic record. (Chicago)

5． Describe a failure or setback in your life. How did you overcome this setback? What, if anything, would you do differently if confronted with this situation again? (Michigan)

6． What is an important lesson that you have learned in life? How did you come to learn this lesson? (MIT)



1． List and describe briefly five characteristics that you think most appropriate to yourself. (Stanford)

2． Each of our applicants is unique. Describe how your background, values, and non-work-related activities will enhance the experiences of other Kellogg students. (Northwestern)

3． What personal qualities would you like to develop to become a more effective leader? (Northwestern)

4． What is your most valued tangible possession? What is your most valued intangible possession? (Berkeley)

5． If you could change one characteristic about yourself, what would it be? (Berkeley)

6． To your college friends and classmates, do you feel that you were particularly advantaged or disadvantaged? Please explain. (Berkeley)



7． What do you consider to be your major accomplishment in your current job? (Stanford)

8． Describe your three most substantial accomplishments and explain why you view them as such. (Harvard)

9． Through the course of your life, what would you identify as your most valued accomplishment? (Northwestern)

10． The best mistake I ever made was … (Northwestern)

11． In reviewing the last five years, describe a situation in which you felt particularly effective as a member of a team. (Columbia)

12． Briefly state what you view as your most significant accomplishment. (Berkeley)

13． Tell us about the most challenging team experience you have had to date. What role did you play? What factors made it a challenge for you? How did you and the group address these issues? What did you learn? (Duke)

14． List any scholastic honors and the basis for your seletion. Also list any articles or books published, research work completed or in progress, and inventions or other creative work, if applicable. (Chicago)

15． What has been your most significant professional achievement? What has been your toughest professional challenge and how did you address it? (Michigan)

16． What's the most creative solution to a problem or situation you've ever developed? (Michegan)

17． What's the most creative solution to a problem or situation you've ever developed? (Michigan)

18． Describe an idea you've had for a new business or product or a new service line of an existing entity. (Michigan)

19． At Sloan we view leadership as "making things happen" Tell us about a time when you made something important happen. What did you learn about yourself from this experience? (MIT)