Important Information About BanksA banker or bank is a financial institution whose primary activity is to act as a payment agent for customers and to borrow and lend money.Learn
Financial Advice Help Guide-
The first modern bank was founded in Italy in Genoa in 1406, its name was Banco di San Giorgio .Many other financial activities were added over time. For example banks are important players in financial markets and offer financial services such as investment funds. In some countries such as Germany, banks are the primary owners of industrial corporations while in other countries such as the United States banks are prohibited from owning non-financial companies. In Japan, banks are usually the nexus of cross share holding entity known as zaibatsu. In France "Bancassurance" is highly present, as most banks offer insurance services (and now real estate services) to their clients.
Banks have influenced economies and politics for centuries. Historically, the primary purpose of a bank was to provide loans to trading companies. Banks provided funds to allow businesses to purchase inventory, and collected those funds back with interest when the goods were sold. For centuries, the banking industry only dealt with businesses, not consumers. Banking services have expanded to include services directed at individuals, and risk in these much smaller transactions are pooled.
Origin of the word
The name bank derives from the Italian word banco "desk/bench", used during the Renaissance by Florentines bankers, who used to make their transactions above a desk covered by a green tablecloth. However, there are traces of banking activity even in ancient times. In fact, the word traces its origins back to the Ancient Roman Empire, where moneylenders would set up their stalls in the middle of enclosed courtyards called macella on a long bench called a bancu, from which the words banco and bank are derived. As a moneychanger, the merchant at the bancu did not so much invest money as merely convert the foreign currency into the only legal tender in Rome—that of the Imperial Mint.
Traditional banking activities
Banks act as payment agents by conducting checking or current accounts for customers, paying cheques drawn by customers on the bank, and collecting cheques deposited to customers' current accounts. Banks also enable customer payments via other payment methods such as telegraphic transfer, EFTPOS, and ATM.
Banks borrow money by accepting funds deposited on current account, accepting term deposits and by issuing debt securities such as banknotes and bonds. Banks lend money by making advances to customers on current account, by making installment loans, and by investing in marketable debt securities and other forms of money lending.
Banks provide almost all payment services, and a bank account is considered indispensable by most businesses, individuals and governments. Non-banks that provide payment services such as remittance companies are not normally considered an adequate substitute for having a bank account. Banks borrow most funds from households and non-financial businesses, and lend most funds to households and non-financial businesses, but non-bank lenders provide a significant and in many cases adequate substitute for
bank payday loans, and
money market funds, cash management trusts and other non-bank financial institutions in many cases provide an adequate substitute to banks for lending savings to.
DefinitionCathay Bank in Boston's ChinatownThe definition of a bank varies from country to country.
Under English common law, a banker is defined as a person who carries on the business of banking, which is specified as:
conducting current accounts for his customers paying cheques drawn on him, and collecting cheques for his customers.
In most English common law jurisdictions there is a Bills of Exchange Act that codifies the law in relation to negotiable instruments, including cheques, and this Act contains a statutory definition of the term banker: banker includes a body of persons, whether incorporated or not, who carry on the business of banking' (Section 2, Interpretation). Although this definition seems circular, it is actually functional, because it ensures that the legal basis for bank transactions such as cheques do not depend on how the bank is organised or regulated. The business of banking is in many English common law countries not defined by statute but by common law, the definition above.
In other English common law jurisdictions there are statutory definitions of the business of banking or banking business. When looking at these definitions it is important to keep in mind that they are defining the business of banking for the purposes of the legislation, and not necessarily in general. In particular, most of the definitions are from legislation that has the purposes of entry regulating and supervising banks rather than regulating the actual business of banking. However, in many cases the statutory definition closely mirrors the common law one.
Examples of statutory definitions: "banking business" means the business of receiving money on current or deposit account, paying and collecting cheques drawn by or paid in by customers, the making of advances to customers, and includes such other business as the Authority may prescribe for the purposes of this Act; (Banking Act (Singapore), Section 2, Interpretation).
"banking business" means the business of either or both of the following:
receiving from the general public money on current, deposit, savings or other similar account repayable on demand or within less than [3 months] ... or with a period of call or notice of less than that period; paying or collecting cheques drawn by or paid in by customers
Since the advent of EFTPOS (Electronic Funds Transfer at Point Of Sale), direct credit, direct debit and internet banking, the cheque has lost its primacy in most banking systems as a payment instrument. This has lead legal theorists to suggest that the cheque based definition should be broadened to include financial institutions that conduct current accounts for customers and enable customers to pay and be paid by third parties, even if they do not pay and collect cheques.
Accounting for bank accountsBank statements are accounting records produced by banks under the various accounting standards of the world. Under GAAP and IFRES there are two kinds of accounts: debit and credit. Credit accounts are Revenue, Equity and Liabilities. Debit Accounts are Assets and Expenses. This means you credit credit accounts to increase their balances and you debit debit accounts to increase their balances.
This also means you debit your savings account everytime you deposit money into it (and the account is normally in deficit) and you credit your credit card account everytime you spend money from it (and the account is normally in credit).
However, if you read your bank statement, it will say the opposite- that you have credited your account when you deposit money, and you debit when you withdraw it. If you have cash in your account you have a positive or credit balance and if you are overdrawn it will say you have a negative or a deficit balance. The reason for this is because the bank, and not you, has produced the bank statement.
Your savings might be your assets, but it is the bank's liability, so your savings account is a liability account which is a credit account and should have a positive credit balance. Your loans are your liabilities but the bank's assets so they are debit accounts which should have a negative balance. Below where bank transactions, balances, credits and debits are discussed, they are done so from the viewpoint of the account holder which is traditionally what most people are used to seeing.
payday advance pinellas county,online cash payday loans preferredpaydayloan perso,arlington va payday loans,state employee credit union payday advance,5 gainsville payday loan 7,loan now online payday,layton long key payday loan,100 no fax payday loan money,tents 90 day pay,pay day loans industry,5 springfield payday loan 7,4 lynwood payday loan 6,178 day loan payday same 256,fast payday loans low fees,check cashing pay day advance chec,cash payday loan personal loan,payday advance direct deposit not required,4 cape canaveral payday loan 6,7 payday loan direct credit 10,payday loans to 150000,y kissimmee payday loan,pay day loans law,inline payday loan service cash btinternet,4 lovelock payday loan 6,over the phone payday loans,7 payday cash advance loan 10,pay day loan northern virginia,returning customer sonic payday loans,4 richland hills payday loan 6,payday 2009 jelsoft enterprises ltd,advance loan payday utah,palmer candy payday candy bar,4 bowie payday loan 6,4 mendota heights payday loan 6,297 e fast loan payday 428,pay day loan fast easy approval,new hampshire pay day cash advance,credit average pay days,4 layton payday loan 6,no tele track payday loan,6 personal loan service payday loan,fax loan no payday sameday credit,faxless payday loan kentucky,4 shelton payday loan 6,online application payday loan,4 waynesboro payday loan 6,52 payday loan kentucky 75,4 ceres payday loan 6,new richmond payday loan,payday advance mount pleasant pa,payday loans kansas city mo,payday loan online united states,sam day payday loan,help wth at store payday loans,5 payday loan vegas 7,payday loans direct lender,pay day cash advances on line,cash advance payday loan software credit,pay day loans grandview,illinois payday loan laws,15 loan over payday phone 22,payday providers that actually give loans,bible worker seventh day adventist pay,advance advance cash loan payday payday,low interest payday loans no telecheck,payday loans juneau alaska,easy fast online payday loans,payday loan rollover charges,ocean isle beach payday loan,5 fremont payday loan 7,pay days for california state workers,pay day loan fort worth,credit consolidation quick payday loan website or blog
