A bank is a financial institution that accepts
deposits from the public and creates a
demand deposit while simultaneously making
loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through
capital markets.
Whereas banks play an important role in financial stability and the
economy of a country, most jurisdictions exercise a
high degree of regulation over banks. Most countries have institutionalized a system known as
fractional-reserve banking, under which banks hold liquid assets equal to only a portion of their current liabilities. In addition to other regulations intended to ensure
liquidity, banks are generally subject to
minimum capital requirements based on an international set of capital standards, the
Basel Accords. (Full article...)
A
Fidor Bank debit card A debit card, also known as a check card or bank card, is a
payment card that can be used in place of
cash to make purchases. The card usually consists of the bank's name, a card number, the cardholder's name, and an expiration date, on either the front or the back. Many new cards now have a chip on them, which allows people to use their card by touch (contactless), or by inserting the card and keying in a PIN as with swiping the magnetic stripe. Debit cards are similar to a
credit card, but the money for the purchase must be in the cardholder's
bank account at the time of the purchase and is immediately transferred directly from that account to the merchant's account to pay for the purchase.
Some debit cards carry a
stored value with which a payment is made (prepaid cards), but most relay a message to the cardholder's bank to withdraw funds from the cardholder's designated bank account. In some cases, the
payment card number is assigned exclusively for use on the Internet, and there is no physical card. This is referred to as a
virtual card. (Full article...)
Image 2
An
NCR Personas 75-Series interior, multi-function ATM in the United States An automated teller machine (ATM) is an electronic
telecommunications device that enables customers of
financial institutions to perform
financial transactions, such as cash withdrawals, deposits, funds transfers, balance inquiries or account information inquiries, at any time and without the need for direct interaction with bank staff.
ATMs are known by a variety of names, including automatic teller machines (ATM) in the United States (sometimes
redundantly as "ATM machine"). In Canada, the term automated banking machine (ABM) is also used, although ATM is also very commonly used in Canada, with many Canadian organizations using ATM over ABM. In British English, the terms cashpoint, cash machine and hole in the wall are most widely used.[better source needed] Other terms include any time money, cashline, tyme machine, cash dispenser, cash corner, bankomat, or bancomat. ATMs that are
not operated by a financial institution are known as "
white-label" ATMs. (Full article...)
Image 3
In the
English language, banq and banc are
coined words pronounced identically to the word "
bank". Both terms have been adopted by financial services companies and others to satisfy legal restrictions on the usage of the word bank. The
compoundbancorp (banc/bank + corp[oration]) is often used in the names of
bank holding companies. For example, a hypothetical chartered bank named Bank of Manhattan might form a holding company named "Manhattan Bancorp", and a sister insurance business named "Banc of Manhattan Insurance". One well-known past example was
Bank of America's investment banking entity, named
Banc of America Securities (now part of
Bank of America Merrill Lynch).
This practice originates from legal necessity: in the United States, the commerce departments of state governments generally prohibit or restrict the use of certain words in the names of corporations unless those corporations are legitimate chartered banks. For example, words prohibited by the state of Louisiana include bank, banker, banking, savings, safe deposit, trust, trustee, and credit union. (Full article...)
Different wire transfer systems and operators provide a variety of options relative to the immediacy and finality of settlement and the cost, value, and volume of
transactions.
Central bank wire transfer systems, such as the
Federal Reserve's
Fedwire system in the United States, are more likely to be
real-time gross settlement (RTGS) systems, as they provide the quickest availability of funds. This is because they post the gross (complete) entry against electronic accounts of the wire transfer system operator. Other systems, such as the
Clearing House Interbank Payments System (CHIPS), provide
net settlement on a periodic basis. More immediate settlement systems tend to process higher monetary value
time-critical transactions, have higher transaction costs, and have a smaller volume of payments. A faster settlement process allows less time for
currency fluctuations while money is in transit. (Full article...)
Unlike a certificate of deposit and
bonds, a time deposit is generally
not negotiable; it is not transferable by the depositor, so that depositors need to deal with the financial institution when they need to prematurely cash out of the deposit. (Full article...)
Image 6
The CAMELS rating is a supervisory rating system originally developed in the U.S. to classify a bank's overall condition. It is applied to every bank and credit union in the U.S. and is also implemented outside the U.S. by various banking supervisory regulators.
An automated clearing house (ACH) is a computer-based electronic network for processing transactions, usually domestic low value payments, between participating
financial institutions. It may support both
credit transfers and
direct debits. The ACH system is designed to process batches of payments containing numerous transactions, and it charges fees low enough to encourage its use for low-value payments. (Full article...)
The FDIC is not supported by public funds; member banks' insurance dues are its primary source of funding. The FDIC charges premiums based upon the risk that the insured bank poses. When dues and the proceeds of bank liquidations are insufficient, it can borrow from the federal government, or issue debt through the
Federal Financing Bank on terms that the bank decides. (Full article...)
Image 9
Loan document issued by the Bank of
Petrevene,
Bulgaria, dated 1936. In
finance, a loan is the transfer of
money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a
debt and is usually required to pay
interest for the use of the money.
The document evidencing the debt (e.g., a
promissory note) will normally specify, among other things, the principal amount of money borrowed, the interest rate the lender is charging, and the date of repayment. A loan entails the reallocation of the subject
asset(s) for a period of time, between the
lender and the
borrower. (Full article...)
PSBC was set up with an initial capital of RMB20 billion in 2007 from the
State Post Bureau. Today it has RMB1.5 trillion in deposits and the second largest number of branches, after the
Agricultural Bank of China. (Full article...)
ICBC became the world's largest bank by total assets in 2012 (based on year-end balance sheet) and has kept this rank ever since. It was ranked first on the
Forbes Global 2000 list of the world's top public companies in 2015. On 31 December 2022, it was the third-largest bank in the world by market capitalization at $211 billion. It is one of the most profitable companies in the world, ranking fourth according to
Forbes in 2022. It has been designated a
systemically important bank by the
Financial Stability Board (FSB) since the start of the FSB's listing. (Full article...)
On September 25, 2008, the United States
Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) seized WaMu's banking operations and placed it into
receivership with the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The OTS took the action due to the withdrawal of US$16.7billion in deposits during a 9-day
bank run (amounting to 9% of the deposits it had held on June 30, 2008). The FDIC sold the banking subsidiaries (minus unsecured debt and equity claims) to
JPMorgan Chase for $1.9billion, which had been considering acquiring WaMu as part of a plan internally nicknamed "Project West". All WaMu branches were rebranded as Chase branches by the end of 2009. The holding company was left with $33billion in assets, and $8billion in debt, after being stripped of its banking subsidiary by the FDIC. The next day, it filed for
Chapter 11 voluntary bankruptcy in Delaware, where it was incorporated. (Full article...)
Following aggressive international expansion, ABN AMRO was acquired and broken up in 2007–2008 by a consortium of European banks, including
Fortis which intended to take over its formed operations in the
Benelux region. Fortis came under stress in the autumn of 2008, and was in turn broken up into separate national entities; the Dutch operations, namely
Fortis Bank Nederland and the former ABN AMRO activities that Fortis had planned to absorb, were nationalized, restructured, and renamed ABN AMRO in mid-2010. On 20 November 2015, the Dutch government publicly re-listed the company through an
IPO and sold 20 percent of the shares to the public. (Full article...)
Image 37Statesman
Jan van den Brink was instrumental in the merger of Amsterdamsche Bank and Rotterdamsche Bank in 1964, and remained on the bank's board until 1978 (from AMRO Bank)
A bank is a financial institution that accepts
deposits from the public and creates a
demand deposit while simultaneously making
loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through
capital markets.
Whereas banks play an important role in financial stability and the
economy of a country, most jurisdictions exercise a
high degree of regulation over banks. Most countries have institutionalized a system known as
fractional-reserve banking, under which banks hold liquid assets equal to only a portion of their current liabilities. In addition to other regulations intended to ensure
liquidity, banks are generally subject to
minimum capital requirements based on an international set of capital standards, the
Basel Accords. (Full article...)
A
Fidor Bank debit card A debit card, also known as a check card or bank card, is a
payment card that can be used in place of
cash to make purchases. The card usually consists of the bank's name, a card number, the cardholder's name, and an expiration date, on either the front or the back. Many new cards now have a chip on them, which allows people to use their card by touch (contactless), or by inserting the card and keying in a PIN as with swiping the magnetic stripe. Debit cards are similar to a
credit card, but the money for the purchase must be in the cardholder's
bank account at the time of the purchase and is immediately transferred directly from that account to the merchant's account to pay for the purchase.
Some debit cards carry a
stored value with which a payment is made (prepaid cards), but most relay a message to the cardholder's bank to withdraw funds from the cardholder's designated bank account. In some cases, the
payment card number is assigned exclusively for use on the Internet, and there is no physical card. This is referred to as a
virtual card. (Full article...)
Image 2
An
NCR Personas 75-Series interior, multi-function ATM in the United States An automated teller machine (ATM) is an electronic
telecommunications device that enables customers of
financial institutions to perform
financial transactions, such as cash withdrawals, deposits, funds transfers, balance inquiries or account information inquiries, at any time and without the need for direct interaction with bank staff.
ATMs are known by a variety of names, including automatic teller machines (ATM) in the United States (sometimes
redundantly as "ATM machine"). In Canada, the term automated banking machine (ABM) is also used, although ATM is also very commonly used in Canada, with many Canadian organizations using ATM over ABM. In British English, the terms cashpoint, cash machine and hole in the wall are most widely used.[better source needed] Other terms include any time money, cashline, tyme machine, cash dispenser, cash corner, bankomat, or bancomat. ATMs that are
not operated by a financial institution are known as "
white-label" ATMs. (Full article...)
Image 3
In the
English language, banq and banc are
coined words pronounced identically to the word "
bank". Both terms have been adopted by financial services companies and others to satisfy legal restrictions on the usage of the word bank. The
compoundbancorp (banc/bank + corp[oration]) is often used in the names of
bank holding companies. For example, a hypothetical chartered bank named Bank of Manhattan might form a holding company named "Manhattan Bancorp", and a sister insurance business named "Banc of Manhattan Insurance". One well-known past example was
Bank of America's investment banking entity, named
Banc of America Securities (now part of
Bank of America Merrill Lynch).
This practice originates from legal necessity: in the United States, the commerce departments of state governments generally prohibit or restrict the use of certain words in the names of corporations unless those corporations are legitimate chartered banks. For example, words prohibited by the state of Louisiana include bank, banker, banking, savings, safe deposit, trust, trustee, and credit union. (Full article...)
Different wire transfer systems and operators provide a variety of options relative to the immediacy and finality of settlement and the cost, value, and volume of
transactions.
Central bank wire transfer systems, such as the
Federal Reserve's
Fedwire system in the United States, are more likely to be
real-time gross settlement (RTGS) systems, as they provide the quickest availability of funds. This is because they post the gross (complete) entry against electronic accounts of the wire transfer system operator. Other systems, such as the
Clearing House Interbank Payments System (CHIPS), provide
net settlement on a periodic basis. More immediate settlement systems tend to process higher monetary value
time-critical transactions, have higher transaction costs, and have a smaller volume of payments. A faster settlement process allows less time for
currency fluctuations while money is in transit. (Full article...)
Unlike a certificate of deposit and
bonds, a time deposit is generally
not negotiable; it is not transferable by the depositor, so that depositors need to deal with the financial institution when they need to prematurely cash out of the deposit. (Full article...)
Image 6
The CAMELS rating is a supervisory rating system originally developed in the U.S. to classify a bank's overall condition. It is applied to every bank and credit union in the U.S. and is also implemented outside the U.S. by various banking supervisory regulators.
An automated clearing house (ACH) is a computer-based electronic network for processing transactions, usually domestic low value payments, between participating
financial institutions. It may support both
credit transfers and
direct debits. The ACH system is designed to process batches of payments containing numerous transactions, and it charges fees low enough to encourage its use for low-value payments. (Full article...)
The FDIC is not supported by public funds; member banks' insurance dues are its primary source of funding. The FDIC charges premiums based upon the risk that the insured bank poses. When dues and the proceeds of bank liquidations are insufficient, it can borrow from the federal government, or issue debt through the
Federal Financing Bank on terms that the bank decides. (Full article...)
Image 9
Loan document issued by the Bank of
Petrevene,
Bulgaria, dated 1936. In
finance, a loan is the transfer of
money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a
debt and is usually required to pay
interest for the use of the money.
The document evidencing the debt (e.g., a
promissory note) will normally specify, among other things, the principal amount of money borrowed, the interest rate the lender is charging, and the date of repayment. A loan entails the reallocation of the subject
asset(s) for a period of time, between the
lender and the
borrower. (Full article...)
PSBC was set up with an initial capital of RMB20 billion in 2007 from the
State Post Bureau. Today it has RMB1.5 trillion in deposits and the second largest number of branches, after the
Agricultural Bank of China. (Full article...)
ICBC became the world's largest bank by total assets in 2012 (based on year-end balance sheet) and has kept this rank ever since. It was ranked first on the
Forbes Global 2000 list of the world's top public companies in 2015. On 31 December 2022, it was the third-largest bank in the world by market capitalization at $211 billion. It is one of the most profitable companies in the world, ranking fourth according to
Forbes in 2022. It has been designated a
systemically important bank by the
Financial Stability Board (FSB) since the start of the FSB's listing. (Full article...)
On September 25, 2008, the United States
Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) seized WaMu's banking operations and placed it into
receivership with the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The OTS took the action due to the withdrawal of US$16.7billion in deposits during a 9-day
bank run (amounting to 9% of the deposits it had held on June 30, 2008). The FDIC sold the banking subsidiaries (minus unsecured debt and equity claims) to
JPMorgan Chase for $1.9billion, which had been considering acquiring WaMu as part of a plan internally nicknamed "Project West". All WaMu branches were rebranded as Chase branches by the end of 2009. The holding company was left with $33billion in assets, and $8billion in debt, after being stripped of its banking subsidiary by the FDIC. The next day, it filed for
Chapter 11 voluntary bankruptcy in Delaware, where it was incorporated. (Full article...)
Following aggressive international expansion, ABN AMRO was acquired and broken up in 2007–2008 by a consortium of European banks, including
Fortis which intended to take over its formed operations in the
Benelux region. Fortis came under stress in the autumn of 2008, and was in turn broken up into separate national entities; the Dutch operations, namely
Fortis Bank Nederland and the former ABN AMRO activities that Fortis had planned to absorb, were nationalized, restructured, and renamed ABN AMRO in mid-2010. On 20 November 2015, the Dutch government publicly re-listed the company through an
IPO and sold 20 percent of the shares to the public. (Full article...)
Image 37Statesman
Jan van den Brink was instrumental in the merger of Amsterdamsche Bank and Rotterdamsche Bank in 1964, and remained on the bank's board until 1978 (from AMRO Bank)