Portal:Banks

The Banks and Banking Portal The Bank of England, established in 1694 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...) Selected banking articles Cartoon depicting the political conflict between Andrew Jackson and Nicholas Biddle over the Second Bank of the United States The Bank War was a political struggle that developed over the issue of rechartering the Second Bank of the United States (B.U.S.) during the presidency of Andrew Jackson (1829–1837). The affair resulted in the shutdown of the Bank and its replacement by state banks. The Second Bank of the United States was established as a private organization with a 20-year charter, having the exclusive right to conduct banking on a national scale. The goal behind the B.U.S. was to stabilize the American economy by establishing a uniform currency and strengthening the federal government. Supporters of the Bank regarded it as a stabilizing force in the economy due to its ability to smooth out variations in prices and trade, extend credit, supply the nation with a sound and uniform currency, provide fiscal services for the treasury department, facilitate long-distance trade, and prevent inflation by regulating the lending practices of state banks. Jacksonian Democrats cited instances of corruption and alleged that the B.U.S. favored merchants and speculators at the expense of farmers and artisans, appropriated public money for risky private investments and interference in politics, and conferred economic privileges on a small group of stockholders and financial elites, thereby violating the principle of equal opportunity. Some found the Bank's public–private organization to be unconstitutional, and argued that the institution's charter violated state sovereignty. To them, the Bank symbolized corruption while threatening liberty. (Full article...) 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...) An advising bank (also known as a notifying bank) advises a beneficiary (exporter) that a letter of credit (L/C) opened by an issuing bank for an applicant (importer) is available. An advising bank's responsibility is to authenticate the letter of credit issued by the issuer to avoid fraud. The advising bank is not necessarily responsible for the payment of the credit which it advises the beneficiary of. The advising bank is usually located in the beneficiary's country. It can be (1) a branch office of the issuing bank or a correspondent bank, or (2) a bank appointed by the beneficiary. An important point is the beneficiary has to be comfortable with the advising bank. In case (1), the issuing bank most often sends the L/C through its branch office or correspondent bank to avoid fraud. The branch office or the correspondent bank maintains specimen signature(s) on file where it may counter-check the signature(s) on the L/C, and it has a coding system (a secret test key) to distinguish a genuine L/C from a fraudulent one (authentication). (Full article...) In many countries' contemporary usage, national bank is often used as a synonym for central bank. In present-day Australia and United States, and in late-19th-century Japan, the expression refers to a category of banks chartered at the national (federal) level: National bank (United States) National Banks in Meiji Japan (Full article...) Islamic banking, Islamic finance (Arabic: مصرفية إسلامية masrifiyya '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...) A Christmas club is a special-purpose savings account, first offered by various banks and credit unions in the United States beginning in the early 20th century, including the Great Depression. Bank customers would deposit a set amount of money each week into a savings account, and receive the money back at the end of the year for Christmas shopping. (Full article...) Switzerland is known for its bank secrecy and strict bank–client confidentiality. Pictured: the Swiss Alps, the location of many underground storage bunkers for gold. Banking secrecy, alternatively known as financial privacy, banking discretion, or bank safety, is a conditional agreement between a bank and its clients that all foregoing activities remain secure, confidential, and private. Most often associated with banking in Switzerland, banking secrecy is prevalent in Luxembourg, Monaco, Hong Kong, Singapore, Ireland, and Lebanon, among other off-shore banking institutions. Otherwise known as bank–client confidentiality or banker–client privilege, the practice was started by Italian merchants during the 1600s near Northern Italy (a region that would become the Italian-speaking region of Switzerland). Geneva bankers established secrecy socially and through civil law in the French-speaking region during the 1700s. Swiss banking secrecy was first codified with the Banking Act of 1934, thus making it a crime to disclose client information to third parties without a client's consent. The law, coupled with a stable Swiss currency and international neutrality, prompted large capital flight to private Swiss accounts. During the 1940s, numbered bank accounts were introduced creating an enduring principle of bank secrecy that continues to be considered one of the main aspects of private banking globally. Advances in financial cryptography (via public-key cryptography) could make it possible to use anonymous electronic money and anonymous digital bearer certificates for financial privacy and anonymous Internet banking, given enabling institutions and secure computer systems. (Full article...) A continuous buildup of toxic assets in the form of subprime mortgages purchased by Lehman Brothers ultimately led to the firm's bankruptcy in September 2008. The collapse of Lehman Brothers is often cited as both the culmination of the subprime mortgage crisis, and the catalyst for the Great Recession in the United States. The 2007–2008 financial crisis, or the global financial crisis (GFC), was the most severe worldwide economic crisis since the 1929 Wall Street crash that began the Great Depression. Causes of the crisis included predatory lending in the form of subprime mortgages to low-income homebuyers, excessive risk-taking by global financial institutions, a continuous buildup of toxic assets within banks, and the bursting of the 2000s United States housing bubble, which culminated in a "perfect storm" that triggered the Great Recession, which lasted from late 2007 to mid-2009. The financial crisis began in mid-2007, as mortgage-backed securities (MBS) tied to U.S. real estate, as well as a vast web of derivatives linked to those MBS, collapsed in value. Financial institutions worldwide suffered severe damage, reaching a climax with the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers on September 15, 2008, and a subsequent international banking crisis. The preconditions for the financial crisis were complex and multi-faceted. Almost two decades prior, the U.S. government had passed legislation permitting looser financing to promote affordable housing. In 1999, parts of the Glass–Steagall legislation (passed in 1933 during the Great Depression) were repealed, permitting financial institutions to mix low-risk operations, such as commercial banking and insurance, with higher-risk operations such as proprietary trading and investment banking. One of the largest contributors to the conditions necessary for the financial collapse was the rapid development in financial products which targeted low-income, low-information homebuyers who largely belonged to racial minorities. This market development went unattended by regulators and thus caught the U.S. government by surprise in 2007. By July 2008, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two companies which together owned or guaranteed half of the U.S. housing market, were on the verge of collapse; the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 enabled the federal government to take over both enterprises and cover their $1.6 trillion combined debt. (Full article...) The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is a United States government corporation supplying deposit insurance to depositors in American commercial banks and savings banks. The FDIC was created by the Banking Act of 1933, enacted during the Great Depression to restore trust in the American banking system. More than one-third of banks failed in the years before the FDIC's creation, and bank runs were common. The insurance limit was initially US$2,500 per ownership category, and this has been increased several times over the years. Since the enactment of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in 2010, the FDIC insures deposits in member banks up to $250,000 per ownership category. FDIC insurance is backed by the full faith and credit of the government of the United States, and according to the FDIC, "since its start in 1933 no depositor has ever lost a penny of FDIC-insured funds". 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...) 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. The ratings are assigned based on a ratio analysis of the financial statements, combined with on-site examinations made by a designated supervisory regulator. In the U.S. these supervisory regulators include the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the National Credit Union Administration, the Farm Credit Administration, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. (Full article...) Selected banks ABN AMRO Head Office in Zuidas, Amsterdam ABN AMRO Bank N.V. is the third-largest Dutch bank, with headquarters in Amsterdam. It was initially formed in 1991 by merger of the two prior Dutch banks that form its name, Algemene Bank Nederland (ABN) and Amsterdamsche en Rotterdamsche Bank (AMRO Bank). 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...) Future JPMorganChase headquarters at 270 Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan JPMorgan Chase & Co. (stylized as JPMorganChase) is an American multinational financial services firm headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. It is the largest bank in the United States and the world's largest bank by market capitalization as of 2023. As the largest of the Big Four banks in America, the firm is considered systemically important by the Financial Stability Board. Its size and scale have often led to enhanced regulatory oversight as well as the maintenance of an internal "Fortress Balance Sheet". The firm is headquartered at 383 Madison Avenue in Midtown Manhattan and is set to move into the under-construction JPMorgan Chase Building at 270 Park Avenue in 2025. The firm's early history can be traced to 1799, with the founding of what became the Chase Manhattan Company. In 1871, J.P. Morgan & Co. was founded by J. P. Morgan who launched the House of Morgan on 23 Wall Street as a national purveyor of commercial, investment, and private banking services. The present company was formed after the two predecessor firms merged in 2000, creating a diversified holding entity. It is a major provider of investment banking services, through corporate advisory, mergers and acquisitions, sales and trading, and public offerings. Their private banking franchise and asset management division are among the world's largest in terms of total assets. Its retail banking and credit card offerings are provided via the Chase brand in the U.S. and United Kingdom. (Full article...) Headquarters in Beijing, China Postal Savings Bank of China Co., Ltd. also known as PSBC is a Chinese retail bank and financial services corporation headquartered in Beijing, China. PSBC provides basic financial services, especially to small and medium enterprises, rural and low income customers. As of 31 December 2017, PSBC has 39,798 branches covering all regions of China. PSBC was ranked #27 in Forbes Global 2000 in 2023. 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...) HSBC Holdings plc (Chinese: 滙豐; acronym from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business links to East Asia and a multinational footprint. It is the largest Europe-based bank by total assets, ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.919 trillion as of December 2023. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 trillion in assets under custody (AUC) and $4.9 trillion in assets under administration (AUA). (Full article...) Logo used since 2018 Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. (株式会社三井住友フィナンシャルグループ), initialed as SMFG until 2018 and SMBC Group since, is a major Japanese financial services group and holding company. It is the parent of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), SMBC Trust Bank, and SMBC Nikko Securities. SMBC originates from the 2001 merger of Sumitomo Bank with the Sakura Bank, itself a successor to the Mitsui Bank, and the group holding entity was created in December 2002 after which SMBC became its wholly-owned subsidiary. SMBC 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. It operates in over 40 countries and maintains a presence in all International Financial Centres as the 12th biggest bank in the world by total assets. It is one of the largest global financial institutions in project finance space by total loan value. It is headquartered in the Marunouchi neighborhood of Tokyo. (Full article...) The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central component of the Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's most important central banks with a balance sheet total of around 7 trillion. The ECB Governing Council makes monetary policy for the Eurozone and the European Union, administers the foreign exchange reserves of EU member states, engages in foreign exchange operations, and defines the intermediate monetary objectives and key interest rate of the EU. The ECB Executive Board enforces the policies and decisions of the Governing Council, and may direct the national central banks when doing so. The ECB has the exclusive right to authorise the issuance of euro banknotes. Member states can issue euro coins, but the volume must be approved by the ECB beforehand. The bank also operates the TARGET2 payments system. (Full article...) The Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. (株式会社みずほフィナンシャルグループ, Kabushiki-gaisha Mizuho Finansharu Gurūpu), known from 2000 to 2003 as Mizuho Holdings and abbreviated as MHFG or simply Mizuho, is a banking holding company headquartered in the Ōtemachi district of Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The group was formed in 2000-2002 by merger of Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank, Fuji Bank, and Industrial Bank of Japan. The name mizuho (瑞穂) literally means "abundant rice" in Japanese and "harvest" in the figurative sense. Mizuho Financial Group is the parent holding of Mizuho Bank, Mizuho Trust & Banking, Mizuho Securities, and Mizuho Capital, and the majority owner of Asset Management One. The group offers a range of financial services, including banking, securities, trust and asset management services, employing more than 59,000 people throughout 880 offices. It is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange—where it is a constituent of the Nikkei 225 and TOPIX Core30 indices—and in the New York Stock Exchange in the form of American depositary receipts. (Full article...) Head office at Estonia puiestee 13 in Tallinn, erected 1935 on a design by architects Eugen Habermann and Herbert Johanson The Bank of Estonia (Estonian: Eesti Pank) is the Estonian member of the Eurosystem and has been the monetary authority for Estonia from 1919 to 2010, albeit with a long suspension between 1940 and 1989, issuing the Estonian kroon. (Full article...) Banco Santander S.A. trading as Santander Group (UK: /ˌsæntənˈdɛər, -tæn-/ SAN-tən-DAIR, -⁠tan-, US: /ˌsɑːntɑːnˈdɛər/ SAHN-tahn-DAIR, Spanish: [ˈbaŋko santanˈdeɾ]), is a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Madrid and Santander in Spain. Additionally, Santander maintains a presence in most global financial centres as the 19th-largest banking institution in the world. Although known for its European banking operations, it has extended operations across North and South America, and more recently in continental Asia. It is considered a systemically important bank by the Financial Stability Board. Many subsidiaries, such as Abbey National, have been rebranded under the Santander name. The company is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index. In June 2023, Santander was ranked as 49th in the Forbes Global 2000 list of the world's biggest public companies. Santander is Spain's largest bank. (Full article...) Since 2010, Crédit Agricole has been headquartered in a remodeled former Schlumberger plant in Montrouge, known as Campus Evergreen Crédit Agricole Group (French: [kʁedit‿aɡʁikɔl]), sometimes called La banque verte (lit. 'The green bank', due to its historical ties to farming), is a French international banking group and the world's largest cooperative financial institution. It is the second largest bank in France, after BNP Paribas, as well as the third largest in Europe and tenth largest in the world. It consists of a network of Crédit Agricole local banks, 39 Agricole regional banks and a central institute, the Crédit Agricole S.A.. It is listed through Crédit Agricole S.A., as an intermediate holding company, on Euronext Paris' first market and is part of the CAC 40 stock market index. Local banks of the group owned the regional banks, in turn the regional banks majority owned the S.A. via a holding company, in turn the S.A. owned part of the subsidiaries of the group, such as LCL, the Italian network and the CIB unit. It is considered to be a systemically important bank by the Financial Stability Board. It was the title sponsor of the Crédit Agricole professional road cycling team from 1998 to 2008. (Full article...) Related portals Selected images Standard Bank of Canada branch in Brechin, Ontario. Empty as of 2014, the building was later used as a Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce branch, until they moved to the other side of the street. (from Standard Bank of Canada) OTP Bank in Prešov (Slovakia) (from Bank) An interior of a branch of National Westminster Bank on Castle Street, Liverpool (from Bank) ATM Al-Rajhi Bank (from Bank) Sealing of the Bank of England Charter (1694), by Lady Jane Lindsay, 1905. (from Bank) Interior of the Helsinki Branch of the Vyborg-Bank in the 1910s (from Bank) Global headquarters of the Bank for International Settlements in Basel (from Bank) National Bank of the Republic, Salt Lake City 1908 (from Bank) An HSBC Bank Canada branch in Richmond Hill, Ontario, 2014 (from HSBC Bank Canada) Former branch in Oulu (from Bank of Finland) Safra National Bank, New York (from Bank) Bank of Finland strong box which moved to Helsinki with the bank when it relocated from Turku (from Bank of Finland) An American bank in Maryland. (from Bank) An HSBC Bank Canada branch in Toronto, 2008 (from HSBC Bank Canada) A former building society, now a modern retail bank in Leeds, West Yorkshire. (from Bank) Amsterdam head office before 1987, lately headquarters of Booking.com (from AMRO Bank) Rotterdam head office, later repurposed as a shopping center (from AMRO Bank) Former branch in Tampere (from Bank of Finland) Citibank, The People's Trust Company Building, Brooklyn, New York City. (from Bank) Helsinki head office extension designed by Harry W. Schreck in the late 1950s (from Bank of Finland) An office of Nordea bank in Mariehamn, Åland (from Bank) Banco de Venezuela in Coro. (from Bank) Government Palace in Helsinki, the Bank's home from 1824 until relocation to its current building in 1883 (from Bank of Finland) National Copper Bank, Salt Lake City 1911 (from Bank) The BANK of Greenland, Nuuk (from Bank) Commerce Tower in Montreal, designed by Peter Dickinson, was begun for the Bank of Commerce but was not completed until after the merger with the Imperial Bank. (from Canadian Bank of Commerce) Former branch in Kotka (from Bank of Finland) Suburban bank branch (from Bank) An illustration of Northern National Bank as advertised in a 1921 book highlighting the opportunities available in Toledo, Ohio (from Bank) Branch of the Standard Bank of Canada in Markham, Ontario, shown in 1912. (from Standard Bank of Canada) Beethovenstraat branch in Amsterdam, 1970 (from AMRO Bank) This 15th-century painting depicts money-dealers at a banca (bench) during the Cleansing of the Temple. (from Bank) Former branch in Sortavala, now in Russia (from Bank of Finland) The 1909 Standard Bank Building at King and Jordan in Toronto, designed by Darling and Pearson. (from Standard Bank of Canada) Carved sign for The Standard Bank of Canada, in Brechin, Ontario. (from Standard Bank of Canada) Former branch in Turku (from Bank of Finland) SEB main building in Tallinn, Estonia (from Bank) Sederholm House in Helsinki, the Bank's seat from 1819 to 1824 (from Bank of Finland) Former branch in Viipuri, now Vyborg, Russia (from Bank of Finland) Branch of Nepal Bank in Pokhara, Western Nepal. (from Bank) Large door to an old bank vault. (from Bank) The HSBC Canada Building in Vancouver housed the headquarters for HSBC's Canadian subsidiary (from HSBC Bank Canada) The Bank's current head office completed in 1883, with statue of J.V. Snellman by sculptor Emil Wikström in front (from Bank of Finland) A Banco do Brasil office in São Paulo, Brazil, the bank is the largest financial institution in Brazil and Latin America. (from Bank) Statesman 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) In the news 6 November 2024 – The Institute of International Finance cautions that if U.S. president-elect Donald Trump follows through with the tariffs that he campaigned on, this will result in a renewal of inflation and higher U.S. banking loan interest rates. (CNBC) Topics Types of institutions: Bad bank Bankers' bank Building society Cooperative bank Credit union Ethical bank Industrial loan company Islamic banking Mortgage bank Mutual savings bank Offshore bank Person-to-person lending Public bank Savings and loan association Savings bank Sparebank Crime: Bank fraud Bank robbery Cheque fraud Cyber crime Money laundering Mortgage fraud Lists: Banks Largest banks Oldest banks U.S. bank failures U.S. bank mergers Accounting topics Economics topics Finance topics Stock exchanges Terms and concepts: Banking agent Bank regulation Bank vault Bankers' bonuses Call report Cheque Electronic funds transfer Factoring (finance) Finance Fractional-reserve banking Full-reserve banking Hedge fund IBAN Internet banking Investment banking Mobile banking Money Narrow banking Overdraft Overdraft protection Piggy bank Private banking Stockbroker Substitute check SWIFT Tax haven Venture capital Wealth management Wire transfer Banking by country: Albania Australia Austria Bangladesh Bhutan Canada China Cuba France Germany Greece Hong Kong India Iran Iraq Israel Italy Kyrgyzstan Pakistan Panama Russia Sierra Leone Singapore South Sudan Sudan Switzerland Syria Tunisia Tunisia Turkey United Kingdom United States Vietnam Categories Category puzzle Banks Select [►] to view subcategories Banks Banks by city Banks by country Banks by continent Banks by time Lists of banks Bad banks Banknote issuers Central banks Crime against banks Defunct banks Government-owned banks Investment banks Islamic banks Microfinance banks Multilateral development banks Multinational banks Bank museums Neobanks Online banks Postal savings system Private banks Supermarket banks Supranational banks Systemically important financial institutions Bank logos Bank stubs Banking Select [►] to view subcategories Banking Banking by country Banking by continent Bank account Bank buildings Bankers Banks Bank codes Banking controversies Cooperative banking Banking crimes Banking crises Deposit insurance Bank deposits Earned Wage Access Ethical banking Films about banking History of banking Banking industry International banking institutions Investment banking Islamic banking Microfinance Mobile Banking Bank museums Banking occupations Banking Ombudsmen Operations of central banks Banking organizations Bank regulation Banking schools Banking technology Banking terms Banking-related lists Bank stubs Associated Wikimedia The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject: Commons Free media repository Wikibooks Free textbooks and manuals Wikidata Free knowledge base Wikinews Free-content news Wikiquote Collection of quotations Wikisource Free-content library Wikiversity Free learning tools Wiktionary Dictionary and thesaurus Need help? 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