1. Introduction

Over the last few years, commercial banks, and more in general the commercial banking business model, have been impacted by three main different forces, namely: the advent of fintech-related innovations (such as artificial intelligence, cryptocurrencies, blockchain, algorithmic trading, machine learning and electronic payments, to name a few), the Covid-19 pandemic and the government measures adopted to tackle it and the sustainable development goals-related initiatives undertaken at both international and domestic levels. Such forces have changed the way commercial banks are organized and operate, and they are expected to keep on affecting such institutions as well as the banking system as a whole. Dealing with commercial banking, this chapter identifies the aims of this Book along with the main areas explored by the contributors, describes its structure and presents the main findings.