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...)
According to the United States
Electronic Fund Transfer Act of 1978 it is "a funds transfer initiated through an electronic terminal, telephone, computer (including on-line banking) or magnetic tape for the purpose of ordering, instructing, or authorizing a financial institution to
debit or
credit a consumer's account". (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...)
Cooperative banking is retail and commercial banking organized on a cooperative basis. Cooperative
banking institutions take deposits and lend money in most parts of the world.
Worldwide, credit union systems vary significantly in their total assets and average institution asset size, ranging from volunteer operations with a handful of members to institutions with hundreds of thousands of members and assets worth billions of US dollars. In 2018, the number of members in credit unions worldwide was 375 million, with over 100 million members having been added since 2016. (Full article...)
Image 5
Islamic banking, Islamic finance (
Arabic: مصرفية إسلاميةmasrifiyya 'islamia), or Sharia-compliant finance is
banking or
financing activity that complies with
Sharia (Islamic law) and its practical application through the development of
Islamic economics. Some of the modes of Islamic finance include mudarabah (profit-sharing and loss-bearing), wadiah (safekeeping), musharaka (joint venture), murabahah (cost-plus), and ijarah (
leasing).
Sharia prohibits riba, or
usury, generally defined as interest paid on all loans of money (although some Muslims dispute whether there is a consensus that interest is equivalent to riba). Investment in businesses that provide goods or services considered contrary to Islamic
principles (e.g. pork or alcohol) is also haram ("sinful and prohibited"). (Full article...)
Image 6
The Diamond–Dybvig model is an influential
model of
bank runs and related
financial crises. The model shows how banks' mix of illiquid assets (such as business or mortgage loans) and liquid liabilities (deposits which may be withdrawn at any time) may give rise to self-fulfilling panics among depositors. Diamond and Dybvig, along with
Ben Bernanke, were the recipients of the 2022
Nobel Prize in Economics for their work on the Diamond-Dybvig model. (Full article...)
Image 7
The 2010 United States foreclosure crisis, sometimes referred to as Foreclosure-gate or Foreclosuregate, refers to a widespread epidemic of improper
foreclosures initiated by large banks and other lenders. The foreclosure crisis was extensively covered by news outlets beginning in October 2010, and several large banks—including
Bank of America,
JP Morgan,
Wells Fargo, and
Citigroup—responded by halting their foreclosure proceedings temporarily in some or all states. The foreclosure crisis caused significant investor fear in the U.S. A 2014 study published in the American Journal of Public Health linked the foreclosure crisis to an increase in suicide rates.
One out of every 248 households in the United States received a foreclosure notice in September 2012, according to
RealtyTrac. (Full article...)
Image 8
An export credit agency (known in
trade finance as an ECA) or investment insurance agency is a private or quasi-governmental institution that acts as an intermediary between national governments and
exporters to issue export insurance solutions and guarantees for financing. The financing can take the form of
credits (financial support) or credit
insurance and
guarantees (pure cover) or both, depending on the mandate the ECA has been given by its government. ECAs can also offer credit or cover on their own account. This does not differ from normal banking activities. Some agencies are government-sponsored, others private, and others a combination of the two.
ECAs currently finance or underwrite about US$430 billion of business activity abroad – about US$55 billion of which goes towards project finance in developing countries – and provide US$14 billion of insurance for new foreign direct investment, dwarfing all other official sources combined (such as the World Bank and Regional Development Banks, bilateral and multilateral aid, etc.). As a result of the claims against developing countries that have resulted from ECA transactions, ECAs hold over 25% of these developing countries' US$2.2 trillion debt. (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 10
A credit card is a
payment card, usually issued by a bank, allowing its users to purchase goods or services or withdraw cash on
credit. Using the card thus accrues
debt that has to be repaid later. Credit cards are one of the most widely used forms of payment across the world.
A regular credit card is different from a
charge card, which requires the balance to be repaid in full each month or at the end of each statement cycle. In contrast, credit cards allow the consumers to build a continuing balance of debt, subject to
interest being charged. A credit card differs from a charge card also in that a credit card typically involves a third-party entity that pays the seller and is reimbursed by the buyer, whereas a charge card simply defers payment by the buyer until a later date. A credit card also differs from a
debit card, which can be used like currency by the owner of the card. (Full article...)
Selected banks
Image 1
Logo since 2018
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (株式会社三井住友銀行, Kabushiki-gaisha Mitsui Sumitomo Ginkō, SMBC) is a Japanese multinational banking financial services institution owned by Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc (株式会社三井住友フィナンシャルグループ, SMFG). It is headquartered in
Yurakucho,
Chiyoda, Tokyo,
Japan. The group operates in retail, corporate, and investment banking segment worldwide. It provides financial products and services to a wide range of clients, including individuals, small and medium-sized enterprises, large corporations, financial institutions and public sector entities. Since 2011, it has been included into the
Financial Stability Board's
list of global systemically important banks.
It is a major financial institution that started in 1875 as a
postal savings system, and that still today continues to operate primarily out of post office branches. It manages over ¥205 trillion of assets and offers services in almost 24,000 branches across Japan. At times in its history, it was the largest financial institution in the world. Since its conception, it has played a significant role in both making economic services to people in Japan and making investments towards the economic and industrial development of the country. (Full article...)
Image 3
Chemical's logo, adopted from Manufacturers Hanover after the banks' merger
Chemical Bank was a bank with headquarters in
New York City from 1824 until 1996. At the end of 1995, Chemical was the third-largest bank in the U.S., with about $182.9 billion in assets and more than 39,000 employees around the world.
CGD now has presence in 23 countries spanning four continents through branches, representative offices or direct equity interests in local financial institutions. CGD is the largest Portuguese financial group, with the highest domestic market shares in key areas such as customer deposits, loans and advances to customers, mortgages, insurance, mutual funds and real estate leasing (11.4%). Based on assets, it ranks 109 in terms of the world’s major banks. CGD is the 69th largest European bank. (Full article...)
ABC has 320 million retail customers, 2.7 million corporate clients, and nearly 24,000 branches. It is China's third-largest lender by assets. ABC went public in mid-2010, fetching the world's biggest ever
initial public offering (IPO) at the time, since overtaken by the
Saudi Arabianstate-runpetroleum enterprise,
Saudi Aramco. In 2011, it ranked eighth among the Top 1000 World Banks, by 2015, it ranked third in Forbes' 13th annual Global 2000 list and in 2017 it ranked fifth. In 2023, Agricultural Bank of China was ranked #4 in Forbes' Global 2000 (World's Largest Public Companies). It is considered a
systemically important bank by the
Financial Stability Board. (Full article...)
HSBC traces its origin to a
hong trading house in
British Hong Kong. The bank was established in 1865 in Hong Kong and opened branches in
Shanghai in the same year. It was first formally incorporated in 1866. In 1991, the present parent legal entity, HSBC Holdings plc, was established in
London and the historic Hong-Kong-based bank from whose initials the group took its name became that entity's fully-owned subsidiary. The next year (1992), HSBC took over
Midland Bank and thus became one of the largest domestic banks in the United Kingdom. (Full article...)
Shinhan Bank started as a small enterprise with a capital stock of KRW 25.0 billion, 279 employees, and three branches on July 7, 1982. Today, it has transformed itself into a large bank, boasting total assets of KRW 176.9
trillion, equity capital of KRW 9.7 trillion, 10,741 employees, and 1,026 branches as of 2006. As of June 30, 2016, Shinhan Bank had total assets of
₩298.945 trillion (equivalent to ₩304.658 trillion or
US$269.507 billion in 2017)[1] , total deposits of
₩221.047 trillion (equivalent to ₩225.271 trillion or
US$199.28 billion in 2017)[1] and loans of
₩212.228 trillion (equivalent to ₩216.283 trillion or
US$191.329 billion in 2017)[1]. Shinhan Bank is the main subsidiary of Shinhan Financial Group (SFG). (Full article...)
The Laurentian Bank of Canada (LBC; French: Banque Laurentienne du Canada) is a
Schedule 1 bank that operates primarily in the province of
Quebec, with commercial and business banking offices located in Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, and Nova Scotia. LBC's Institution Number (or
routing number) is 039.
The institution was established as the Montreal City and District Savings Bank in 1846. Shares for the bank were publicly listed on the
Montreal Stock Exchange in 1965 and the
Toronto Stock Exchange in 1983. In 1987, the institution was renamed the Laurentian Bank of Canada. (Full article...)
Image 24Beethovenstraat branch in Amsterdam, 1970 (from AMRO Bank)
Image 25Statesman
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...)
According to the United States
Electronic Fund Transfer Act of 1978 it is "a funds transfer initiated through an electronic terminal, telephone, computer (including on-line banking) or magnetic tape for the purpose of ordering, instructing, or authorizing a financial institution to
debit or
credit a consumer's account". (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...)
Cooperative banking is retail and commercial banking organized on a cooperative basis. Cooperative
banking institutions take deposits and lend money in most parts of the world.
Worldwide, credit union systems vary significantly in their total assets and average institution asset size, ranging from volunteer operations with a handful of members to institutions with hundreds of thousands of members and assets worth billions of US dollars. In 2018, the number of members in credit unions worldwide was 375 million, with over 100 million members having been added since 2016. (Full article...)
Image 5
Islamic banking, Islamic finance (
Arabic: مصرفية إسلاميةmasrifiyya 'islamia), or Sharia-compliant finance is
banking or
financing activity that complies with
Sharia (Islamic law) and its practical application through the development of
Islamic economics. Some of the modes of Islamic finance include mudarabah (profit-sharing and loss-bearing), wadiah (safekeeping), musharaka (joint venture), murabahah (cost-plus), and ijarah (
leasing).
Sharia prohibits riba, or
usury, generally defined as interest paid on all loans of money (although some Muslims dispute whether there is a consensus that interest is equivalent to riba). Investment in businesses that provide goods or services considered contrary to Islamic
principles (e.g. pork or alcohol) is also haram ("sinful and prohibited"). (Full article...)
Image 6
The Diamond–Dybvig model is an influential
model of
bank runs and related
financial crises. The model shows how banks' mix of illiquid assets (such as business or mortgage loans) and liquid liabilities (deposits which may be withdrawn at any time) may give rise to self-fulfilling panics among depositors. Diamond and Dybvig, along with
Ben Bernanke, were the recipients of the 2022
Nobel Prize in Economics for their work on the Diamond-Dybvig model. (Full article...)
Image 7
The 2010 United States foreclosure crisis, sometimes referred to as Foreclosure-gate or Foreclosuregate, refers to a widespread epidemic of improper
foreclosures initiated by large banks and other lenders. The foreclosure crisis was extensively covered by news outlets beginning in October 2010, and several large banks—including
Bank of America,
JP Morgan,
Wells Fargo, and
Citigroup—responded by halting their foreclosure proceedings temporarily in some or all states. The foreclosure crisis caused significant investor fear in the U.S. A 2014 study published in the American Journal of Public Health linked the foreclosure crisis to an increase in suicide rates.
One out of every 248 households in the United States received a foreclosure notice in September 2012, according to
RealtyTrac. (Full article...)
Image 8
An export credit agency (known in
trade finance as an ECA) or investment insurance agency is a private or quasi-governmental institution that acts as an intermediary between national governments and
exporters to issue export insurance solutions and guarantees for financing. The financing can take the form of
credits (financial support) or credit
insurance and
guarantees (pure cover) or both, depending on the mandate the ECA has been given by its government. ECAs can also offer credit or cover on their own account. This does not differ from normal banking activities. Some agencies are government-sponsored, others private, and others a combination of the two.
ECAs currently finance or underwrite about US$430 billion of business activity abroad – about US$55 billion of which goes towards project finance in developing countries – and provide US$14 billion of insurance for new foreign direct investment, dwarfing all other official sources combined (such as the World Bank and Regional Development Banks, bilateral and multilateral aid, etc.). As a result of the claims against developing countries that have resulted from ECA transactions, ECAs hold over 25% of these developing countries' US$2.2 trillion debt. (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 10
A credit card is a
payment card, usually issued by a bank, allowing its users to purchase goods or services or withdraw cash on
credit. Using the card thus accrues
debt that has to be repaid later. Credit cards are one of the most widely used forms of payment across the world.
A regular credit card is different from a
charge card, which requires the balance to be repaid in full each month or at the end of each statement cycle. In contrast, credit cards allow the consumers to build a continuing balance of debt, subject to
interest being charged. A credit card differs from a charge card also in that a credit card typically involves a third-party entity that pays the seller and is reimbursed by the buyer, whereas a charge card simply defers payment by the buyer until a later date. A credit card also differs from a
debit card, which can be used like currency by the owner of the card. (Full article...)
Selected banks
Image 1
Logo since 2018
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (株式会社三井住友銀行, Kabushiki-gaisha Mitsui Sumitomo Ginkō, SMBC) is a Japanese multinational banking financial services institution owned by Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc (株式会社三井住友フィナンシャルグループ, SMFG). It is headquartered in
Yurakucho,
Chiyoda, Tokyo,
Japan. The group operates in retail, corporate, and investment banking segment worldwide. It provides financial products and services to a wide range of clients, including individuals, small and medium-sized enterprises, large corporations, financial institutions and public sector entities. Since 2011, it has been included into the
Financial Stability Board's
list of global systemically important banks.
It is a major financial institution that started in 1875 as a
postal savings system, and that still today continues to operate primarily out of post office branches. It manages over ¥205 trillion of assets and offers services in almost 24,000 branches across Japan. At times in its history, it was the largest financial institution in the world. Since its conception, it has played a significant role in both making economic services to people in Japan and making investments towards the economic and industrial development of the country. (Full article...)
Image 3
Chemical's logo, adopted from Manufacturers Hanover after the banks' merger
Chemical Bank was a bank with headquarters in
New York City from 1824 until 1996. At the end of 1995, Chemical was the third-largest bank in the U.S., with about $182.9 billion in assets and more than 39,000 employees around the world.
CGD now has presence in 23 countries spanning four continents through branches, representative offices or direct equity interests in local financial institutions. CGD is the largest Portuguese financial group, with the highest domestic market shares in key areas such as customer deposits, loans and advances to customers, mortgages, insurance, mutual funds and real estate leasing (11.4%). Based on assets, it ranks 109 in terms of the world’s major banks. CGD is the 69th largest European bank. (Full article...)
ABC has 320 million retail customers, 2.7 million corporate clients, and nearly 24,000 branches. It is China's third-largest lender by assets. ABC went public in mid-2010, fetching the world's biggest ever
initial public offering (IPO) at the time, since overtaken by the
Saudi Arabianstate-runpetroleum enterprise,
Saudi Aramco. In 2011, it ranked eighth among the Top 1000 World Banks, by 2015, it ranked third in Forbes' 13th annual Global 2000 list and in 2017 it ranked fifth. In 2023, Agricultural Bank of China was ranked #4 in Forbes' Global 2000 (World's Largest Public Companies). It is considered a
systemically important bank by the
Financial Stability Board. (Full article...)
HSBC traces its origin to a
hong trading house in
British Hong Kong. The bank was established in 1865 in Hong Kong and opened branches in
Shanghai in the same year. It was first formally incorporated in 1866. In 1991, the present parent legal entity, HSBC Holdings plc, was established in
London and the historic Hong-Kong-based bank from whose initials the group took its name became that entity's fully-owned subsidiary. The next year (1992), HSBC took over
Midland Bank and thus became one of the largest domestic banks in the United Kingdom. (Full article...)
Shinhan Bank started as a small enterprise with a capital stock of KRW 25.0 billion, 279 employees, and three branches on July 7, 1982. Today, it has transformed itself into a large bank, boasting total assets of KRW 176.9
trillion, equity capital of KRW 9.7 trillion, 10,741 employees, and 1,026 branches as of 2006. As of June 30, 2016, Shinhan Bank had total assets of
₩298.945 trillion (equivalent to ₩304.658 trillion or
US$269.507 billion in 2017)[1] , total deposits of
₩221.047 trillion (equivalent to ₩225.271 trillion or
US$199.28 billion in 2017)[1] and loans of
₩212.228 trillion (equivalent to ₩216.283 trillion or
US$191.329 billion in 2017)[1]. Shinhan Bank is the main subsidiary of Shinhan Financial Group (SFG). (Full article...)
The Laurentian Bank of Canada (LBC; French: Banque Laurentienne du Canada) is a
Schedule 1 bank that operates primarily in the province of
Quebec, with commercial and business banking offices located in Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, and Nova Scotia. LBC's Institution Number (or
routing number) is 039.
The institution was established as the Montreal City and District Savings Bank in 1846. Shares for the bank were publicly listed on the
Montreal Stock Exchange in 1965 and the
Toronto Stock Exchange in 1983. In 1987, the institution was renamed the Laurentian Bank of Canada. (Full article...)
Image 24Beethovenstraat branch in Amsterdam, 1970 (from AMRO Bank)
Image 25Statesman
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)