A bank is a financial organisation licensed by a government. Its primary activities include providing financial services to customers while enriching its investors. Many financial activities were allowed over time. For example banks are important players in financial markets and offer financial services such as investment funds. In some countries such as Germany, banks have historically owned major stakes in industrial corporations while in other countries such as the United States banks are prohibited from owning non-financial companies. In Japan, banks are usually the nexus of a cross-share holding entity known as the zaibatsu. In France, bancassurance is prevalent, as most banks offer insurance services (and now real estate services) to their clients.

The level of government regulation of the banking industry varies widely, with countries such as Iceland, having relatively light regulation of the banking sector, and countries such as China having a wide variety of regulations but no systematic process that can be followed typical of a communist system.

References

1. ^ Macesich, George (30 June 2000). "Central Banking: The Early Years: Other Early Banks". Issues in Money and Banking. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers (Greenwood Publishing Group). p. 42. doi:10.1336/0275967778. ISBN 978-0-275-96777-2. http://books.google.com/books?id=k1OYMZ8OzMUC&pg=PA42. Retrieved 2009-03-12. "The first state deposit bank was the Bank of St. George in Genoa, which was established in 1407."
2. ^ de Albuquerque, Martim (1855). Notes and Queries. London: George Bell. pp. 431. http://books.google.com/books?id=uIrWLegNZxUC&pg=PA431&lpg=PA431&dq=bank+italian+bench&source=web&ots=gp-um7BxxP&sig=r8eVJxS5-aLx3dmb_BmFxYuvW-U.
3. ^ Matyszak, Philip (2007). Ancient Rome on Five Denarii a Day. New York: Thames & Hudson. pp. 144. ISBN 050005147X.
4. ^ United Dominions Trust Ltd v Kirkwood, 1966, English Court of Appeal, 2 QB 431
5. ^ (Banking Ordinance, Section 2, Interpretation, Hong Kong) Note that in this case the definition is extended to include accepting any deposits repayable in less than 3 months, companies that accept deposits of greater than HK$100 000 for periods of greater than 3 months are regulated as deposit taking companies rather than as banks in Hong Kong).
6. ^ e.g. Tyree's Banking Law in New Zealand, A L Tyree, LexisNexis 2003, page 70.
7. ^ Statistics Department (2001). "Source Data for Monetary and Financial Statistics". Monetary and Financial Statistics: Compilation Guide. Washington D.C.: International Monetary Fund. p. 24. ISBN 9781589065840. http://books.google.com/books?id=a03zkw-5fcEC&pg=PT36. Retrieved 2009-03-14.
8. ^ ^{a b} Banking 2008PDF (638 KB) charts 7–8, pages 3–4. International Financial Services, London (IFSL).
9. ^ Fratianni, Michele; Francesco Marchionne (2009). "Rescuing Banks from the Effects of the Financial Crisis". SSRN Working Paper. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID1476786_code942286.pdf?abstractid=1476786&mirid=1.
10. ^ "For Banks, Wads of Cash and Loads of Trouble" article by Eric Lipton and Andrew Martin in The New York Times July 3, 2009

• "Genoa and the history of finance: a series of firsts ?" Giuseppe Felloni, Guido Laura. 9th November 2004, ISBN 88-87822-16-6 (the book can be downloaded at www.giuseppefelloni.it)

[edit] Further reading

• Banking, Banks, and Credit Unions from UCB Libraries GovPubs
• A Guide to the National Banking System (PDF). Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Washington, D.C. Provides an overview of the national banking system of the USA, its regulation, and the OCC.
• Rothbard, Murray Newton (1983). The Mystery of Banking. Richardson & Snyder. ISBN 9780943940045. 2008 edition (PDF) at Ludwig von Mises Institute. ISBN 9781933550282. Explains the modern fractional-reserve banking system, its origins, and—as Douglas E. French writes in his preface to the second edition—"its devastating effects on the lives of every man, woman, and child."