Bank

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A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:

• A central bank circulates money on behalf of a government and acts as its monetary authority by implementing monetary policy, which regulates the money supply.
• A commercial bank accepts deposits and pools those funds to provide credit, either directly by lending, or indirectly by investing through the capital markets. Within the global financial markets, these institutions connect market participants with capital deficits (borrowers) to market participants with capital surpluses (investors and lenders) by transferring funds from those parties who have surplus funds to invest (financial assets) to those parties who borrow funds to invest in real assets.
• A savings bank (known as a "building society" in the United Kingdom) is similar to a savings and loan association (S&L). They can either be stockholder owned or mutually owned, in which case they are permitted to only borrow from members of the financial cooperative. The asset structure of savings banks and savings and loan associations is similar, with residential mortgage loans providing the principal assets of the institution's portfolio.

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Because of the important role depository institutions play in the financial system, the banking industry is generally regulated with government restrictions on financial activities by banks varied over time and by location. Current global bank capital requirements are referred to as Basel II. In some countries, such as Germany, banks have historically owned major stakes in industrial companies, while in other countries, such as the United States, banks have traditionally been prohibited from owning non-financial companies. In Japan, banks are usually the nexus of a cross-share holding entity known as the "keiretsu". In Iceland, banks followed international standards of regulation prior to the recent global financial crisis that began in 2007.


The oldest bank still in existence is Monte dei Paschi di Siena, headquartered in Siena, Italy, which has been operating continuously since 1472.


A Bank's main source of income is interest paid on loans. A bank pays out at a lower interest rate on deposits and receives a higher interest rate on loans. The difference between these rates represents the bank's net income. Banks also generate non-interest income from service fees for Retail and Business banking products, transactional fees, or other non-traditional services such as Trust and Wealth Management consulting, Insurance, Cash Management services, Mortgage loan closing costs and points.


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