Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200. And do not play Monopoly, if you want to learn about finance. Instead, play a game that Vincent Thunus, head of regulation and best banking practice at the European Investment Bank developed to teach interested high-school students in Luxembourg about what kinds of risks banks (and thereby, its shareholders and clients) may face, and what banks need to do to manage those risks.

So we invited two other colleagues, Sophie and Chris, to sit down with us and Vincent to play the game with us, and make it very plain to us what is credit risk, liquidity risk, interest rate risk, foreign exchange rate risk, and other risks.

Allar starts out with 4000 euros.

Sophie starts out with 4400 dollars.

Matt starts out with 0, but with 500 euros worth of projected annual revenues.

And Chris, also at 0, has 2000 euros of annual revenues.

The bank, managed by Vincent, starts out with 2000 euros. But as the bank receives some deposits, it can also start giving out loans. And as the bank goes about its business, it steadily exposes itself to various risk scenarios that Vincent explains in the course of the game. Listen to the episode to find out who crashes a car, and how much do the bankers make!

If you do like the episode, please let us know – rate the podcast, or get in touch with us over Twitter (@EIBMatt and/or @AllarTankler). Also, please suggest terms and ideas we could include in the next episodes, subscribe to ‘A Dictionary of Finance’ in the iTunes podcast app, or Stitcher or your favourite podcast platform, and tune again next week!