A bank [bæŋk] is a business which provides financial services for profit.
The name bank derives from the Italian word banco, desk, used during the Renaissance by Florentines bankers, who used to make their transactions above a desk covered by a green tablecloth.
Traditional banking services include receiving deposits of money, lending money and processing transactions.
Some banks (called Banks of issue) issue banknotes as legal tender. Many banks offer ancillary financial services to make additional profit; for example: selling insurance products, investment products or stock broking.
Currently in most jurisdictions the business of banking is regulated and banks require permission to trade. Authorization to trade is granted by bank regulatory authorities and provide rights to conduct the most fundamental banking services such as accepting deposits and making loans. There are also financial institutions that provide banking services without meeting the legal definition of a bank (see banking institutions).
Banks have a long history, and have influenced economies and politics for centuries.
Traditionally, a bank generates profits from transaction fees on financial services and from the interest it charges for lending. In recent history, with historically low interest rates limiting banks' ability to earn money by lending deposited funds, much of a bank's income is provided by overdraft fees and riskier investments.
Services typically offered by banks
Although the basic type of services offered by a bank depends upon the type of bank and the country, services provided usually include:
•Taking deposits from their customers and issuing checking and savings accounts to individuals and businesses
•Extending loans to individuals and businesses
•Cashing cheques
•Issuing credit cards and debit cards
•Storing valuables, particularly in a safe deposit box
•Cashing and distributing bank rolls
•Consumer & commercial financial advisory services
•Pension & retirement planning
Financial transactions can be performed through many different channels:
•Branch
•Mail
•Telephone banking
•Online banking
Types of banksBanks' activities can be divided into retail banking, dealing directly with individuals and small businesses, and investment banking, relating to activities on the financial markets. Most banks are profit-making, private enterprises. However, some are owned by government, or are non-profit making.
Central banks are non-commercial bodies or government agencies often charged with controlling interest rates and money supply across the whole economy. They act as Lender of last resort in event of a crisis.
Types of retail banks
•Commercial bank: the term used for a normal bank to distinguish it from an investment bank. After the Great Depression, the U.S. Congress required that banks only engage in banking activities, whereas investment banks were limited to capital markets activities. Since the two no longer have to be under separate ownership, some use the term "commercial bank" to refer to a bank or a division of a bank that mostly deals with deposits and loans from corporations or large businesses.
•Postal savings banks: savings banks associated with national postal systems.
•Private banks: manage the assets of high net worth individuals.
•Savings bank: in Europe, savings banks take their roots in the 19th or sometimes even 18th century. Nowadays, European savings banks have kept their focus on retail banking: payments, savings products, credits and insurances for individuals or small and medium-sized enterprises. Apart from this retail focus, they also differ from commercial banks by their broadly decentralised distribution network, providing local and regional outreach and by their socially responsible approach to business and society.
Types of investment banks•Investment banks "underwrite" (guarantee the sale of) stock and bond issues, trade for their own accounts, make markets, and advise corporations on capital markets activities such as mergers and acquisitions.
Both combined
•Universal banks, more commonly known as a financial services company, engage in several of these activities. For example, First Bank (a very large bank) is involved in commercial and retail lending, and its subsidiaries in tax-havens offer offshore banking services to customers in other countries. Other large financial institutions are similarly diversified and engage in multiple activities. In Europe and Asia, big banks are very diversified groups that, among other services, also distribute insurance.
Other types of banksIslamic Banking
•Islamic banks adhere to the concepts of Islamic law. Islamic banking revolves around several well established concepts which are based on Islamic canons. Since the concept of interest is forbidden in Islam, all banking activities must avoid interest. Instead of interest, the bank earns profit (mark-up) and fees on financing facilities that it extends to the customers. Also, deposit makers earn a share of the bank’s profit as opposed to a predetermined interest.
Slovenská sporiteľňa
- is with 2.5 million clients the largest commercial bank in Slovakia. In 2005 and 2006, the Bank was awarded the Euromoney Magazine Award "The Best Bank in Slovakia".
A broad range of insurance products at Slovenská sporiteľňa
Life assurance
Property insurance - buildings and households
Motor insurance
Insurance for journeys and stays abroad
Travel insurance bound to payment cards
Credit insurance
Online banking (or Internet banking)
- is a term used for performing transactions, payments etc. over the Internet through a bank, credit union or building society's secure website. This allows customers to do their banking outside of bank hours and from anywhere where Internet access is available. In most cases a web browser is utilized and any normal internet connection is suitable. No special software or hardware is usually needed.
Online banking usually offers such features as:
•Electronic bill payment
•Funds transfer between a customer's own checking and savings accounts, or to another customer's account
•Investment purchase or sale
•Loan applications and transactions, such as repayments
There are a growing number of so-called virtual banks that operate exclusively online. These online banks have low costs compared to traditional banks and so they often offer higher interest rates
Security token devices
Protection through single password authentication, as is the case in most secure Internet shopping sites, is not considered secure enough for personal online banking applications in some countries.
Some customers avoid online banking as they perceive it as being too vulnerable to fraud. The security measures employed by most banks can never be completely safe, but in practice the number of fraud victims due to online banking is very small. This is probably due to the fact that a relatively small number of people use internet banking compared with the total number of banking customers world wide. Indeed, conventional banking practices may be more prone to abuse by fraudsters than online banking.
Internet bankingIt is a service offering the option to place payments orders and retrieve balance and movements on your current account - all this via the Internet by a normal browser. The service is provided to the existing current accounts (including foreign exchange ones) for individuals and corporations.
Tatra banka provides to the persons authorized to dispose with current accounts of individuals solely the active form of the Internet Banking.
Functions:
•current balance on your account
•movements on your account for a specific time period
•local payment order, stating the due date*
•foreign payment order
•collective payment order
•standing payment order
•direct debit
•batch payments
•you may use the Internet Banking in 4 language versions - Slovak, English, German, and Hungarian
•via the Internet Banking service, you may send new applications: Application for access to a new account, Application for change of the scope of access to your existing account, Application for a new GRID card, Application for everyday bank statements to e-mail address, Application for issuance of i:key, Application for Mobil Banking, and Application for change of the information to bank statements and notices
* Any payment order placed via the Internet Banking service with a due date later than the date of placing (with a due date higher than the then current date in the system) is realised by the bank as a single payment - without revolving, in early morning hours of the due date.
On Sunday and holiday, the system works with the date of the next following banking business day, and due to this reason payments are realised also on such days with the due date according to the client´s instruction /Monday-Saturday, except for holidays/.
You should elect the authorization level, i.e. the way of signing-on the Internet Banking and also the way of confirmation of payments. Currently, we provide three ways of additional authentication in signing-on the Internet Banking:
•PID + password + GRID card
•PID + password + SMS code
•PID + password + SecurID card
It is in the client´s discretion, which of the above options suits his criteria for user´s convenience and comfort. Tatra banka charges no fee for use of the SMS code.
