About
Banking Judgment Lab is a free editorial site about commercial banking judgment
WHAT THIS IS · WHO RUNS IT · WHY IT EXISTS
BANKING JUDGMENT LAB · EST. 2026
Michael Shang
Chartered Banker · Moody's-certified in credit analysis · MBA
WHAT THIS IS
Banking Judgment Lab is a free editorial site about commercial banking judgment — specifically, the kind of credit judgment senior commercial bankers use when reading a borrower, a financial statement, or a facility request.
It publishes short composite case drills, three interactive diagnostic tools, and an editorial newsletter. All of that is free, and will remain free. A free membership adds a record that follows you between devices, and coupons — earned by reading, never bought — that claim things from the Vault outright.
It also publishes a paid Lab Vault containing case packs and industry-specific banking toolkits — for readers who want deeper material on a specific situation. The Vault is independent of the free site: buying material doesn't unlock anything else, not buying doesn't gate anything else.
The Lab is published by Highbank Press, an independent publishing imprint focused on commercial credit judgment.
The frameworks the Lab applies are set out in full in the book, How Bankers Think, available from Highbank Press.
A NOTE ON THE CASES
All cases, borrowers, persons, and financial figures referenced on Banking Judgment Lab and in any Highbank Press publication are composite illustrations, constructed for teaching purposes. They reflect patterns observed across the author's sixteen years of commercial banking practice but do not represent any actual borrower, transaction, or institution.
This applies without exception to: the drills, the case packs, the toolkits, the diagnostic tools, and any examples used in newsletter or other editorial content. No case represents the policy, practice, or position of any specific institution.
How a case is built, checked before it is published, and corrected afterwards is set out on its own page: How the Cases Are Made.
WHO RUNS IT
Michael has spent sixteen years inside commercial banking across the Beijing and Auckland markets, including roles at Chinese state-owned banks and mainstream New Zealand banks. He is a Chartered Banker, Moody's-certified in credit analysis, and holds an MBA. He writes on commercial credit judgment and cross-border finance.
The Lab reflects what he has learned about commercial credit judgment over those sixteen years — what senior bankers actually look for when they read a file, what junior bankers typically miss, and how the gap between the two closes (or fails to) over the first decade of a banker's career.
WHAT READERS SAY
Four practitioners on How Bankers Think, the book the Lab's frameworks are set out in. Quoted by name, with their written permission, as printed on the book.
“I read How Bankers Think in one go. Michael Shang puts words around instincts that senior bankers carry but rarely articulate clearly. The Three Diagnostics don't feel like academic frameworks — they feel like how someone actually thinks after years on the job.”
“Michael Shang bridges accounting analysis and credit judgment with rare clarity. He shows readers how to look beyond reported profit to the cash conversion, working capital discipline, and facility structure behind every lending decision — essential reading for finance professionals.”
“Most borrowers only understand how their banker thinks once a facility is under stress — by which point the conversation is much harder. Michael Shang explains that thinking before things go wrong. Clear, practical, and grounded in how lending decisions are really made.”
“A thoughtful and well-judged perspective on how bankers evaluate risk and opportunity. Michael Shang provides a clear and practical framework for understanding the considerations that sit behind formal credit processes and commercial lending decisions.”
WHY THE LAB EXISTS
Commercial banking judgment is built from cases — many cases, repeated and varied, read against each other over time. A single long-form explanation cannot substitute for that repetition, and neither does a course: judgment comes from calling a file yourself and then seeing how a senior banker called the same one. That is why every drill here asks for your answer before it shows you the read.
The Lab applies frameworks in the open — composite cases with the senior banker's read on each, plus diagnostic tools that let a reader run their own borrower through the same discipline.
The drills are the practice range. The Vault is for readers who want deeper, offline material on a specific situation. Neither gates the other.
CONTACT
For correspondence: hello@bankingjudgmentlab.com
The Lab does not currently accept guest posts, sponsored content, syndication, or affiliate arrangements. Reader questions about the material are welcome.
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