Bank

Origin

The word banks appears in the French language at the 15th century. The bankers Lombards of the north of the Italy achieved their work in open places and were installed on benches, from where drift probably the name.

The treasurers of the Temple disappeared with lui ; others, the such Médicis, open banking institutions in the big cities, which act as Ambassade S, and even become financial sovereign .

the activity of changer of Monnaie had developed vis-a-vis the proliferation of the currencies to leaving the Bas the Middle Ages. The princes of Europe need these currencies as much as Eastern spices to finance the States and the conflicts incessants : the Florin has an extraordinary course. Previously, the Christian dogma degraded the contact with the money.
occurs then, with the rise of the trade practiced by the maritime republics Italy born (the galères of the République of Venice have active exchanges with the Hanse), the opening of business firms exceeding the comptoirs : the first purse is born with Bruges, its name comes from the family Van der Buerse.
Lastly, the activity of Credit, hitherto exerted by the Jewish community taking into account prohibition evoked above, cease to be held by it only. The Churches open mounts of piety making it possible to the paupers to convert their goods into Espèce S sounding and stumbling.

Convergence of these three financial activities was born the contemporary world from the bank, by successive concentrations.

See also the history of the French banks, as well as a virtual museum

Roles

The banks, not only exert the “ trade of the argent ”, but are also the organizations which produce Monnaie. According to the proverb “ the appropriations make the dépôts ” (" loans make deposits "), any credit granted by a bank increases the money Supply by creating a bank deposit (Representative money) of equivalent amount, and any reduced credit refunded the currency in circulation.

The banks play a very important economic part in the capitalist companies. They contribute (just as the financial markets) to direct the money of those which have some temporarily too much towards those which need some and present sufficient guarantees. They have a great role in the selection of the Projet S according to their economic outlooks. Their role can be compared with that of the heart in an human body which distributes blood rich in oxygen towards the bodies.

Key component of the saving in a country, each bank is subjected to a rather strict supervision by a Official Authority, in order to check the solidity of the financial institution compared to the risks to which its operations the exposent :

Being given the financial relations that the banks within the banking system maintain, the Faillite of a bank can involve by effect of dominos, those of other banks, which, fault of being refunded by the failing bank, would be in their turn incompetents to face their engagements. This scenario catastrophe for the banking system, also called systemic Risk, would involve an immediate contraction of the appropriations and an entry in economic crisis of the country for lack of financings. The regulator thus obliges to respect some financial ratios in order to limit this risk. Most known is the ratio of adequacy of equities the ratio Mac Donought (in the past Ratio Cooke), recently updated within the framework of the directives Basle II, which obliges the banks on a minimum level of Equities to ensure engagements of the bank.

Certain countries organize funds interbank of guarantee, making it possible to refund the customers of the bank.

Economic model

The Turnover of the banks is called banking Net profit. It comes

from the financial expenses (the Agios) on the operations,
of the commissions on finance departments (bank cards, etc)
of the interest charged while placing and lending the money deposited by their customers.

Types of banks

The whole of the banks, chapeauté by the central bank, forms the banking system of a monetary Area.

One distinguishes thus various types of banks according to their role :

the Central bank, like the Banque de France, the Bank of Canada, or the European Central bank, has as a role

to regulate and supervise the operations of the various banks, while taking care in particular of their Solvabilité with regard to the depositors,
and to supervise in particular the production of Monnaie by these banks, and to control of it the use by the means of directing interest rates. The economic theory sees a means there of controlling the growth, via the incentive with the saving or the Consommation, and of acting on the Inflation.

the deposit banks (in anglais : commercial banks ) works primarily with their customers, private individuals, professionals and undertaken, receive deposits, grant loans and are traditionally separate between

retail bankings, (in anglais : retail banks ) intended to the private individuals, to the professionals and for SME (small and medium-size companies)
and investment banks, (in anglais : wholesale banks ) intended for the averages and large companies

but it acts there often of two departments of same the banque ;

the banks of investment (in anglais : investment banks ) works primarily on the financial markets and in particular launches financial transactions (bond issues of loans, applications for shares, going publics, fusion-acquisitions…)

More and more, the investment and retail bankings are simple subsidiary companies of banking groups diversified, which often also deal with Assurance, of management of Investment trust and other financial activities. Frequently, those attach to the subsidiary company banks of investment the activities known as of banks of businesses .

With the the United States, an incompatibility was created by the Banking Act of 1933, more known under the name of Knell-Steagall Act , between the de activities;:

banks commercial , which receives the deposits and which carries out loans
and banks of investment , which carries out operations on titles and transferable securities.

Adopted with the apogee of the economic crisis of 1929, this law aimed at prohibiting the repetition of what, at the time, was perceived in the opinion like one of the causes of the bubble boursière : the speculation on the actions by the retail bankings. Beaten in breach since the deregulation of the American financial markets on May 1st 1975, the Act Knell-Steagal fell gradually in disuse and ended up disappearing with the autumn 1999 to allow the constitution the United States from universal large banks, to start with Citigroup.

In addition, one distinguishes between the banks according to their shareholding .

the retail bankings are generally either mutualists or commercial.

a bank mutualist , a system very developed in continental Europe, is had by its members, who are often his customers. It is a mode which comes from the co-operative spirit initiated in particular by the agricultural medium (see Coopérative and Mutualité, to also see Savings bank).
the commercial banks are companies whose capital is held by Actionnaire S and who are generally with dimensions in Bourse
It exists nevertheless analog and digital systems banks mutualists having part of their capital in the form of quoted on the stock exchange actions. It is the case in France of the Agricultural credit, which in addition is owner of LCL (Crédit Lyonnais), a joint stock company, and of subsidiary companies and participations various in France and abroad.

In Germany, where this characteristic is due to the federal nature of the State, there exists a third category of retail bankings, that of the Landesbank in, whose principal shareholder is a Land, and whose statute is changing to conform to the rules of competition in Europe.

Lastly, there exist specialized banks in a segment of specific activity, often resulting from an old specific regulation or, in France, distribution in the past of some “ ready improved ” :

banks specialists in the consumer credit,
or on the contrary, banks specialized in the management of fortune,
banks specialized in the real estate credit,
banks specialized in leasing with the companies,
banks specialized in the financing of a particular economic activity (agriculture, bar-restaurants, trade of art, oil, etc).

In each country, there exist one or more company doctors which represent the banks, sometimes according to their type. The French banking Fédération is the professional organization who represents all the banks installed in France: commercial, co-operative or mutualists, Frenchwomen or foreign.

Regulatory agencies

The financial institutions are subjected to the authority of various organizations of supervision and regulation, according to the countries and the réglementations.
Apart from the central banks already referred to above, one can raise:
; in Europe

the CESR, Committee off European Securities Regulators .

; in France

the MFA, Autorité of the financial markets which gathers the old COB (Securities and Exchange Commission) and the CMF (the Council of the financial markets) - the MFA represents France within the CESR of the European Union
the CECEI, Comité of the finance companies and the companies of investment, which depends on the Banque de France and is charged to deliver approvals with the new establishments
the regulation banking and financial as for it under the responsibility of Banque de France (before function reserved for the Committee of the Banking and Financial Regulation)

is placed ; with the the United States

SEC, Securities and Exchange Commission , equivalent of the MFA Frenchwoman.

; international agencies

IOSCO, International Organization off Securities Commissions (in French: OICV, International organization of the commissions of values) who gathers the authorities of market (the MFA for France, SEC for the United States…)
the BIS, Bank for international settlements (in English (A), Bank for International Settlements ) which is “the central bank of the central banks” and which is, in particular, at the origin of the agreements of Basle.

Lastly, several defense associations of the consumers comes to give their support for the customers of the banks to help them to take advantage of their rights, for example in the event of discovered without warning and of non-observance of the procedures (like the Loi Scrivener in France).

They can in particular prepare the defense of the consumers in front of the magistrates' courts and assign a bank in front of these same courts.

Main associations of defense of the consumers vis-a-vis the banks are:

the French Association of the Users of Bank (AFUB)
Association against the Abuses the European Banks (ACABE)

Financing

The banks make it possible to the private individuals to finance their projects in their granting Prêt S, either real estate or with consumption. This distinction depends at the same time on the object (of the financed good), on the amount and the duration.

In various countries whose France, the law protects the consumer (law Scrivener) by obliging for example the bank to make appear legal mentions (TEG, the overall costs of the credit, the insurance…), by leaving him a time of retractation, or by fixing a ceiling of debt blocking any additional recourse to the credit, and which it is responsibility for the bank to check before any agreement of loan.

It is advisable to distinguish 2 types of loans: affected loans and nonaffected loans. The affected loans are financings for which the destination of the money is known (example: real estate credit, credit car…) with the difference in the nonaffected loans for which the borrower can have the money as he will want it. The trade of lender being primarily a trade of control of the risk, the lender will always find a risk less by granting an affected credit rather than by granting a nonaffected credit… (Example: with a nonaffected credit, you remain free to go to play casino the borrowed sum…)

In other cases, the goal of the loan is not directly to finance an object but rather needs for Trésorerie. The loan then takes too often the form of a Crédit revolving… whereas a personal loan could largely be enough!

The more so as the development of the market of the appropriations pushes the establishments to show the créditrevolving like a practical solution and astute to regulate a momentary problem… what is a banking heresy.

Deposits and Saving

The customers can deposit (temporarily) or place (for a certain duration) their liquidities and economies on various bank accounts and plans of saving, notamment :

the Account running traditionally called “ account-checks ”, which is used as pivot with the movements of capital of the customer,
the Livret saves, still named Savings account or banking booklet, makes it possible to have a capital remunerated, according to an annual rate fixed by the bank near which the booklet is opened, or directly by the State,
the Compte remunerated an alternative of the account running being given payment of interests calculated on the weekly or monthly balances,
a variety of accounts and plans of saving, which can profit from tax incentives under certain conditions, for example if they are dedicated to the retirement, with the accession with housing,
of the account-titles allowing to carry out the operations of purse, and receptacles also of the Funds of investment,
of the formulas of Life insurance of which some allowing capitalization as well as a plan of saving.

For the detail to see current Account and Standard of bank deposits.

Means of payment

The bank delivers means of payment with its customers (and in addition boxes those received by its customers) :

payments and withdrawals of Species S with its Counter S
delivery of notebooks of Check S
purchasing cards
foreign
documents travel, free exchangeable currencies near a wide choice of international banks, emitted in national currency or currencies, and profiting from an insurance on the title.
it can also carry out and receive Virement S isolated or periodicals between accounts from the same holder or other thirds (by ex. : domiciliation of wages, payment of invoices of electricity, subscriptions various…), by means of a bank account number comprising the identification of the bank, the account and the names and addresses of its holder, with the national plan (numbers bank account number, RIP…) or international (number IBAN in Europe).
payments and transfers of accounts in line (Internet, telephone…) by means of access codes

Various services

It offers finally various services like the access to trunks, the subscription and the conservation of Titer S, the passage of orders of purse, etc

It markets also contracts of Assurance, the two trades being more and more proches : it is the Bancassurance.

Services with the companies

Many services offered to the companies are similar to those offered to the private individuals, such as the financings and the services of payment and placement but with differences of amounts, of many operations and of complexity (international operations or financial engineering for example). See on this subject banks of company.

Famous bankers

Banks in France

In France, in 2001, there exist 1.068 finance companies. Half of the finance companies are banks.

See too

Information on the fiduciary treatment of currency

Banking environment
Financial institution
List of banks by country
Finance company
Articles généraux :

Central bank
Currency
private Currency
alternative Banking system
Trade

Organizations spécifiques :

FBF
the IMF
the World Bank
European Central bank
SWIFT
EIB
BERD
BIS

External bonds

History of the bank in banking France
Lexicon of the FBF French Banking Federation

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