Portal:Banks

An offshore bank is a bank that is operated and regulated under international banking license (often called offshore license), which usually prohibits the bank from establishing any business activities in the jurisdiction of establishment. Due to less regulation and transparency, accounts with offshore banks were often used to hide undeclared income. Since the 1980s, jurisdictions that provide financial services to nonresidents on a big scale can be referred to as offshore financial centres. OFCs often also levy little or no corporation tax and/or personal income and high direct taxes such as duty, making the cost of living high.

With worldwide increasing measures on CTF (combatting the financing of terrorism) and AML (anti-money laundering) compliance, the offshore banking sector in most jurisdictions was subject to changing regulations. Since 2002 the Financial Action Task Force issues the so-called FATF blacklist of "Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories" (NCCTs), which it perceived to be non-cooperative in the global fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. (Full article...)

Private banking is a general description for banking, investment and other financial services provided by banks and financial institutions primarily serving high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) – those with very high income or substantial assets. Private banking is presented by those who provide such services as an exclusive subset of wealth management services, provided to particularly affluent clients. The term "private" refers to customer service rendered on a more personal basis than in mass-market retail banking, usually provided via dedicated bank advisers. It has typically consisted of banking services (deposit taking and payments), discretionary asset management, brokerage, limited tax advisory services and some basic concierge services, typically offered through a gateway provided by a single designated relationship manager. (Full article...)

A savings bank is a financial institution that is not run on a profit-maximizing basis, and whose original or primary purpose is collecting deposits on savings accounts that are invested on a low-risk basis and receive interest. Savings banks have mostly existed as a separate category in Europe.

Savings banks originated in late-18th century Europe as a development of the Enlightenment, and became a Europe-wide phenomenon in the first half of the 19th century. The trajectories of savings bank systems then diverged across European nations, variously leading to the formation of integrated banking groups, cohesive national networks, conversion into cooperative banking or commercial banking entities, and/or piecemeal consolidation with other credit institutions. In most countries, the surviving savings banks have private-sector status and no longer operate under a distinctive legislative framework; significant exceptions include Germany and Luxembourg, where savings banks are public-sector entities. (Full article...)

Investment banking is an advisory-based financial service for institutional investors, corporations, governments, and similar clients. Traditionally associated with corporate finance, such a bank might assist in raising financial capital by underwriting or acting as the client's agent in the issuance of debt or equity securities. An investment bank may also assist companies involved in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and provide ancillary services such as market making, trading of derivatives and equity securities FICC services (fixed income instruments, currencies, and commodities) or research (macroeconomic, credit or equity research). Most investment banks maintain prime brokerage and asset management departments in conjunction with their investment research businesses. As an industry, it is broken up into the Bulge Bracket (upper tier), Middle Market (mid-level businesses), and boutique market (specialized businesses).

Unlike commercial banks and retail banks, investment banks do not take deposits. The revenue model of an investment bank comes mostly from the collection of fees for advising on a transaction, contrary to a commercial or retail bank. From the passage of Glass–Steagall Act in 1933 until its repeal in 1999 by the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act, the United States maintained a separation between investment banking and commercial banks. Other industrialized countries, including G7 countries, have historically not maintained such a separation. As part of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd–Frank Act of 2010), the Volcker Rule asserts some institutional separation of investment banking services from commercial banking. (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 custodian bank, or simply custodian, is a specialized financial institution responsible for providing securities services. It provides post-trade services and solutions for asset owners (e.g. sovereign wealth funds, central banks, insurance companies), asset managers, banks and broker-dealers. It is not engaged in "traditional" commercial or consumer/retail banking like lending.

In the past, the custodian bank purely focused on custody, safekeeping, settlement, and administration of securities as well as asset servicing such as income collection and corporate actions. Yet, in the modern financial world, custodian banks have started providing a wider range of value-adding or cost-saving financial services, ranging from fund administration to transfer agency, from securities lending to trustee services. (Full article...)

A mutual savings bank is a financial institution chartered by a central or regional government, without capital stock, owned by its members who subscribe to a common fund. From this fund, claims, loans, etc., are paid. Profits after deductions are shared among the members. The institution is intended to provide a safe place for individual members to save and to invest those savings in mortgages, loans, stocks, bonds and other securities and to share in any profits or losses that result. (Full article...)

Wall Street is a street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway in the west and South Street and the East River in the east with a length of just under 2,000 feet. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, the American financial services industry, New York–based financial interests, or the Financial District. Anchored by Wall Street, New York has been described as the world's principal fintech and financial center.

The street was originally known in Dutch as Het Cingel ("the Belt") when it was part of New Amsterdam during the 17th century. An actual city wall existed on the street from 1653 to 1699. During the 18th century, the location served as a slave market and securities trading site, and from 1703 onward, the location of New York's city hall, which became Federal Hall. In the early 19th century, both residences and businesses occupied the area, but increasingly the latter predominated, and New York's financial industry became centered on Wall Street. During the 20th century, several early skyscrapers were built on Wall Street, including 40 Wall Street, once the world's tallest building. The street is near multiple subway stations and ferry terminals. (Full article...)

A credit union is a member-owned nonprofit cooperative financial institution. They may offer financial services equivalent to those of commercial banks, such as share accounts (savings accounts), share draft accounts (cheque accounts), credit cards, credit, share term certificates (certificates of deposit), and online banking. Normally, only a member of a credit union may deposit or borrow money. In several African countries, credit unions are commonly referred to as SACCOs (savings and credit co-operatives).

Worldwide, credit union systems vary significantly in their total assets and average institution asset size, ranging from volunteer operations with a handful of members to institutions with hundreds of thousands of members and assets worth billions of US dollars. In 2018, the number of members in credit unions worldwide was 375 million, with over 100 million members having been added since 2016. (Full article...)

A central bank, reserve bank, national bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the 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, 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...)

Deutsche Bank AG (German pronunciation: [ˈdɔʏtʃə ˈbaŋk ʔaːˈɡeː] ^ⓘ, lit. 'German Bank') is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt. It is dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange.

Deutsche Bank was founded in 1870 in Berlin. From 1929 to 1937, following its merger with Disconto-Gesellschaft, it was known as Deutsche Bank und Disconto-Gesellschaft or DeDi-Bank. Other transformative acquisitions have included those of Mendelssohn & Co. in 1938, Morgan Grenfell in 1990, Bankers Trust in 1998, and Deutsche Postbank in 2010. (Full article...)

Citigroup Inc. or Citi (stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company based in New York City. The company was formed in 1998 by the merger of Citicorp, the bank holding company for Citibank, and Travelers; 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...)

Shinhan Bank Co., Ltd. (Korean: 주식회사 신한은행; RR: Jusikhoesa Sinhan Eunhaeng) is a South-Korean bank headquartered in Seoul. It was founded under this name in 1982, but through its merger with Chohung Bank in 2006, traces its origins to the Hanseong Bank (est. 1897), one of the first banks to be established in Korea. It is part of the Shinhan Financial Group, along with Jeju Bank.
As of 2016^[update], Shinhan Bank had total assets of ₩298.945 trillion (equivalent to ₩304.658 trillion or US$269.507 billion in 2017)^[1], total deposits of ₩221.047 trillion (equivalent to ₩225.271 trillion or US$199.28 billion in 2017)^[1] and loans of ₩212.228 trillion (equivalent to ₩216.283 trillion or US$191.329 billion in 2017)^[1]. Shinhan Bank is the main subsidiary of Shinhan Financial Group (SFG). (Full article...)

Lloyds Banking Group plc is a British financial institution formed through the acquisition of HBOS by Lloyds TSB in 2009. It is one of the UK's largest financial services organisations, with 30 million customers and 65,000 employees. Lloyds Bank was founded in 1765 but the wider Group's heritage extends over 320 years, dating back to the founding of the Bank of Scotland by the Parliament of Scotland in 1695.

The Group's headquarters are located at 33 Old Broad Street in the City of London, while its registered office is on The Mound in Edinburgh. It also operates office sites in Birmingham, Bristol, West Yorkshire and Glasgow. The Group also has overseas operations in the US and Europe. Its headquarters for business in the European Union is in Berlin, Germany. (Full article...)

Danske Bank A/S (pronounced [ˈtænˀskə ˈpɑŋˀk], lit. 'Danish Bank') is a Danish multinational banking and financial services corporation. Headquartered in Copenhagen, it is the largest bank in Denmark and a major retail bank in the northern European region with over 5 million retail customers. Danske Bank was number 454 on the Fortune Global 500 list for 2011. The largest shareholder with 21% of the share capital is A.P. Moller Holding, the investment holding company of the Maersk family.

It was founded 5 October 1871 as Den Danske Landmandsbank, Hypothek- og Vexelbank i Kjøbenhavn ("The Danish Farmers' Bank, Mortgage and Exchange Bank of Copenhagen"), and was commonly known as Landmandsbanken ("the Farmers' Bank"). In 1976, the bank changed name to Den Danske Bank ("The Danish Bank"), and the current name was adopted in 2000. (Full article...)

ING Group N.V. (Dutch: ING Groep) is a Dutch multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Amsterdam. Its primary businesses are retail banking, direct banking, commercial banking, investment banking, wholesale banking, private banking, asset management, and insurance services. With total assets of US$967.8 billion, it consistently ranks among the largest banks globally.

ING is the Dutch member of the Inter-Alpha Group of Banks, a co-operative consortium of 11 prominent European banks. Since in 2012, ING Bank is a member in the list of global systemically important banks. It has been designated as a Significant Institution since the entry into force of European Banking Supervision in late 2014, and as a consequence is directly supervised by the European Central Bank. (Full article...)

State Bank of India (SBI) is an Indian multinational public sector bank and financial service body headquartered in Mumbai. It is 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. As of 2024, SBI has 500 million customers.

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". SBI is the 47th 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. In 2024, SBI was ranked 55th in Forbes Global 2000. (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 Japanese 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...)

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), also known as Commonwealth Bank or simply CommBank, is an Australian multinational bank with businesses across New Zealand, Asia, the United States, and the United Kingdom. It provides a variety of financial services, including retail, business and institutional banking, funds management, superannuation, insurance, investment, and broking services. The Commonwealth Bank is the largest Australian listed company on the Australian Securities Exchange as of July 2024, with brands including Bankwest, Colonial First State Investments, ASB Bank (New Zealand), Commonwealth Securities (CommSec) and Commonwealth Insurance (CommInsure). Its former constituent parts were the Commonwealth Trading Bank of Australia, the Commonwealth Savings Bank of Australia, and the Commonwealth Development Bank.

Founded in 1911 by the Australian Government and fully privatised in 1996, the Commonwealth Bank is one of the big four Australian banks, with the National Australia Bank (NAB), ANZ and Westpac. The bank was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange on 12 Sep 1991. (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...)