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 A money market account (MMA) or money market deposit account (MMDA) is a deposit account that pays interest based on current interest rates in the money markets. The interest rates paid are generally higher than those of savings accounts and transaction accounts; however, some banks will require higher minimum balances in money market accounts to avoid monthly fees and to earn interest. Money market accounts should not be confused with money market funds, which are mutual funds that invest in money market securities. (Full article...) A central bank, reserve bank, national bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the currency and monetary policy of a country or monetary union. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the monetary base. Many central banks also have supervisory or regulatory powers to ensure the stability of commercial banks in their jurisdiction, to prevent bank runs, and in some cases also to enforce policies on financial consumer protection and against bank fraud, money laundering, or terrorism financing. Central banks play a crucial role in macroeconomic forecasting, which is essential for guiding monetary policy decisions, especially during times of economic turbulence. Central banks in most developed nations are usually set up to be institutionally independent from political interference, even though governments typically have governance rights over them, legislative bodies exercise scrutiny, and central banks frequently do show responsiveness to politics. (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...) 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...) 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...) A time deposit or term deposit (also known as a certificate of deposit in the United States, and as a guaranteed investment certificate in Canada) is a deposit in a financial institution with a specific maturity date or a period to maturity, commonly referred to as its "term". Time deposits differ from at call deposits, such as savings or checking accounts, which can be withdrawn at any time, without any notice or penalty. Deposits that require notice of withdrawal to be given are effectively time deposits, though they do not have a fixed maturity date. 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...) The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (Swift), legally S.W.I.F.T. SC, is a cooperative established in 1973 in Belgium (French: Société Coopérative) and owned by the banks and other member firms that use its service. SWIFT provides the main messaging network through which international payments are initiated. It also sells software and services to financial institutions, mostly for use on its proprietary "SWIFTNet", and assigns ISO 9362 Business Identifier Codes (BICs), popularly known as "Swift codes". As of 2018, around half of all high-value cross-border payments worldwide used the Swift network, and in 2015, Swift linked more than 11,000 financial institutions in over 200 countries and territories, who were exchanging an average of over 32 million messages per day (compared to an average of 2.4 million daily messages in 1995). (Full article...) 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...) Asset quality is an evaluation of asset to measure the credit risk associated with it. (Full article...) A savings and loan association (S&L), or thrift institution, is a financial institution that specializes in accepting savings deposits and making mortgage and other loans. While the terms "S&L" and "thrift" are mainly used in the United States, similar institutions in the United Kingdom, Ireland and some Commonwealth countries include building societies and trustee savings banks. They are often mutually held (often called mutual savings banks), meaning that the depositors and borrowers are members with voting rights, and have the ability to direct the financial and managerial goals of the organization like the members of a credit union or the policyholders of a mutual insurance company. While it is possible for an S&L to be a joint-stock company, and even publicly traded, in such instances it is no longer truly a mutual association, and depositors and borrowers no longer have membership rights and managerial control. By law, thrifts can have no more than 20 percent of their lending in commercial loans—their focus on mortgage and consumer loans makes them particularly vulnerable to housing downturns such as the deep one the U.S. experienced in 2007. (Full article...) Selected banks The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, with investment banking and auxiliary headquarters in Manhattan. The bank was founded by the merger of NationsBank and Bank of America in 1998. It is the second-largest banking institution in the United States and the second-largest bank in the world by market capitalization, both after JPMorgan Chase. Bank of America is one of the Big Four banking institutions of the United States. It serves about 10 percent of all American bank deposits, in direct competition with JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo. Its primary financial services revolve around commercial banking, wealth management, and investment banking. Through mergers, the oldest branch of the Bank of America franchise can be traced to 1784, when Massachusetts Bank was chartered, the first federally chartered joint-stock owned bank in the United States. Another branch of its history goes back to the U.S.-based Bank of Italy, founded by Amadeo Pietro Giannini in 1904, which provided various banking options to Italian immigrants who faced service discrimination. Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Giannini acquired Banca d'America e d'Italia, in 1922. (Full article...) UniCredit S.p.A. (formerly UniCredito Italiano S.p.A.) is an Italian multinational banking group headquartered in Milan. It is a systemically important bank (according to the list provided by the Financial Stability Board in 2022) and the world's 34th largest by assets. It was formed through the merger of Credito Italiano and Unicredito in 1998 but has a corporate identity stretching back to its first foundation in 1870 as Banca di Genova. UniCredit is listed on the Borsa Italiana and Frankfurt Stock Exchange and is a constituent stock of the Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading shares. With corporate & investment banking, commercial banking and wealth management operations, Unicredit is a pan-European bank with a strong presence in Western, Central and Eastern Europe. Through its European banking network, it provides access to market-leading products and services in 13 core markets: Italy, Germany as HypoVereinsbank, Austria as Bank Austria, Russia and nine other Central and Southeast European countries. (Full article...) Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. (MUFG; 株式会社三菱UFJフィナンシャル・グループ, Kabushiki gaisha Mitsubishi Yūefujei Finansharu Gurūpu) is a Japanese bank holding and financial services company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. MUFG was created in 2005 by merger between Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group (株式会社三菱東京フィナンシャル・グループ, Kabushiki kaisha mitsubishi tōkyō finansharu gurūpu) and UFJ Holdings (株式会社UFJホールディングス; kabushikigaisha yūefujei hōrudingusu). These two groups in turn brought together multiple predecessor banks including Mitsubishi Bank (est. 1880), Yokohama Specie Bank (est. 1880 as a policy bank, reorganized after World War II as Bank of Tokyo), Sanwa Bank (est. 1933 by merger of prior institutions), and Tokai Bank (est. 1941 by merger). MUFG holds assets of around US$2.7 trillion as of 2024 and is the parent company of fully-owned MUFG Bank (branded Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ or BTMU until July 2018), Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation, Mitsubishi UFJ Securities, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, and MUFG Americas Holdings Corporation; majority shareholder of Bank Danamon in Indonesia, Bank of Ayudhya in Thailand, and Mitsubishi UFJ NICOS in Japan; and a large minority shareholder in the Master Trust Bank of Japan, Morgan Stanley in the United States, Security Bank in the Philippines, and Vietinbank in Vietnam. It retains strong links with the Mitsubishi Group and is often described as one of that group’s "Three Great Houses", together with Mitsubishi Corporation and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. (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...) State Bank of India (SBI) is an Indian multinational public sector bank and financial services statutory body headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is the 48th largest bank in the world by total assets and ranked 178th in the Fortune Global 500 list of the world's biggest corporations of 2024, being the only Indian bank on the list. It is a public sector bank and the largest bank in India with a 23% market share by assets and a 25% share of the total loan and deposits market. It is also the tenth largest employer in India with nearly 250,000 employees. In 2024, the company’s seat in Forbes Global 2000 was 55. On 14 September 2022, State Bank of India became the third lender (after HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank) and the seventh Indian company to cross the ₹5 trillion market capitalization on the Indian stock exchanges for the first time. The largest public lender in the country reached a milestone in April 2024, when its market capitalization surpassed ₹7 trillion, making it the second public sector undertaking (PSU) to do so, after Life Insurance Corporation of India. In June 2024, SBI crossed all time high market capitalisation of ₹8 trillion (8 lakh crore INR) becoming the 7th Indian company to cross this milestone, and third Indian bank after HDFC and ICICI in terms of market capitalisation. As of August 2024, State Bank of India has a market cap of ₹7.276 Trillion. This makes it the world's 200th most valuable company by market cap. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has identified SBI, HDFC Bank, and ICICI Bank as Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs), which are often referred to as banks that are "too big to fail". (Full article...) Citigroup Inc. or Citi (stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of Citicorp, the bank holding company for Citibank, and Travelers in 1998; Travelers was spun off from the company in 2002. Citigroup is the third-largest banking institution in the United States by assets; alongside JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo, it is one of the Big Four banking institutions of the United States. It is considered a systemically important bank by the Financial Stability Board and is commonly cited as being too big to fail. It is one of the eight global investment banks in the Bulge Bracket. Citigroup is ranked 36th on the Fortune 500, and was ranked #24 in Forbes Global 2000 in 2023. (Full article...) Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) is a key entity of the decentralized Raiffeisen Banking Group in Austria, acting both as the latter's domestic central financial entity and as the holding company for all the group's operations outside of Austria. The bank is listed on the Wiener Börse. Its major shareholders are the Raiffeisen Banking Group's eight regional banks (Raiffeisen-Landesbanken), which are bound by a shareholders' agreement and together hold a majority of RBI's equity. RBI was established in 2010 as a subsidiary of Raiffeisen Zentralbank (RZB), and absorbed the latter in March 2017 through a reverse takeover. Since then, it has been designated as a Significant Institution under European Banking Supervision, and as a consequence is directly supervised by the European Central Bank. (Full article...) Since 2010, Crédit Agricole has been headquartered in a remodeled former Schlumberger plant in Paris, 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...) Headquarters in Zürich, Switzerland UBS Group AG is a multinational investment bank and financial services company founded and based in Switzerland. Headquartered simultaneously in Zürich and Basel, it maintains a presence in all major financial centres as the largest Swiss banking institution and the largest private bank in the world. UBS investment bankers and private bankers are known for their strict bank–client confidentiality and culture of banking secrecy. Because of the bank's large positions in the Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific markets, the Financial Stability Board considers it a global systemically important bank. Apart from private banking, UBS provides wealth management, asset management and investment banking services for private, corporate and institutional clients with international service. UBS manages the largest amount of private wealth in the world, counting approximately half of The World's Billionaires among its clients. UBS also maintains a global investment bank and is considered a primary market maker. The bank also maintains numerous underground bank vaults, bunkers and storage facilities for gold bars around the Swiss Alps and internationally. Partly due to its banking secrecy, it has been at the centre of numerous tax avoidance investigations undertaken by U.S., French, German, Israeli and Belgian authorities. UBS operations in Switzerland and the United States were respectively ranked first and second on the 2018 Financial Secrecy Index. (Full article...) Headquarters in Ōtemachi, Chiyoda, Tokyo Japan Post Bank Co., Ltd. (株式会社ゆうちょ銀行, Kabushiki gaisha Yūcho Ginkō) is a Japanese bank headquartered in Tokyo. It is a corporation held by Japan Post Holdings, in which the government of Japan has a majority stake. 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...) Related portals Selected images This 15th-century painting depicts money-dealers at a banca (bench) during the Cleansing of the Temple. (from Bank) Carved sign for The Standard Bank of Canada, in Brechin, Ontario. (from Standard Bank of 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) An interior of a branch of National Westminster Bank on Castle Street, Liverpool (from Bank) Branch of Nepal Bank in Pokhara, Western Nepal. (from Bank) Helsinki head office extension designed by Harry W. Schreck in the late 1950s (from Bank of Finland) OTP Bank in Prešov (Slovakia) (from Bank) Branch of the Standard Bank of Canada in Markham, Ontario, shown in 1912. (from Standard Bank of Canada) Citibank, The People's Trust Company Building, Brooklyn, New York City. (from Bank) National Copper Bank, Salt Lake City 1911 (from Bank) Banco de Venezuela in Coro. (from Bank) Former branch in Kotka (from Bank of Finland) Bank of Finland strong box which moved to Helsinki with the bank when it relocated from Turku (from Bank of Finland) 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) Former branch in Tampere (from Bank of Finland) Sealing of the Bank of England Charter (1694), by Lady Jane Lindsay, 1905. (from Bank) The 1909 Standard Bank Building at King and Jordan in Toronto, designed by Darling and Pearson. (from Standard Bank of Canada) The BANK of Greenland, Nuuk (from Bank) A former building society, now a modern retail bank in Leeds, West Yorkshire. (from Bank) Former branch in Oulu (from Bank of Finland) Rotterdam head office, later repurposed as a shopping center (from AMRO Bank) Global headquarters of the Bank for International Settlements in Basel (from Bank) SEB main building in Tallinn, Estonia (from Bank) Large door to an old bank vault. (from Bank) An American bank in Maryland. (from Bank) An illustration of Northern National Bank as advertised in a 1921 book highlighting the opportunities available in Toledo, Ohio (from Bank) National Bank of the Republic, Salt Lake City 1908 (from Bank) An HSBC Bank Canada branch in Toronto, 2008 (from HSBC Bank Canada) 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) Interior of the Helsinki Branch of the Vyborg-Bank in the 1910s (from Bank) 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) An office of Nordea bank in Mariehamn, Åland (from Bank) Sederholm House in Helsinki, the Bank's seat from 1819 to 1824 (from Bank of Finland) An HSBC Bank Canada branch in Richmond Hill, Ontario, 2014 (from HSBC Bank Canada) Former branch in Sortavala, now in Russia (from Bank of Finland) ATM Al-Rajhi Bank (from Bank) Government Palace in Helsinki, the Bank's home from 1824 until relocation to its current building in 1883 (from Bank of Finland) Safra National Bank, New York (from Bank) A Banco do Brasil office in São Paulo, Brazil, the bank is the largest financial institution in Brazil and Latin America. (from Bank) Beethovenstraat branch in Amsterdam, 1970 (from AMRO Bank) The HSBC Canada Building in Vancouver housed the headquarters for HSBC's Canadian subsidiary (from HSBC Bank Canada) Suburban bank branch (from Bank) Amsterdam head office before 1987, lately headquarters of Booking.com (from AMRO Bank) Former branch in Turku (from Bank of Finland) Former branch in Viipuri, now Vyborg, Russia (from Bank of Finland) 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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