Bank
lastmod 2026-06-10created 2026-06-102 edits
A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits and makes loans. Lending activities can be performed by the bank directly or indirectly through capital markets.
Because banks play an important role in a country's financial stability and economy, most jurisdictions exercise a high degree of regulation over banks. Most countries have institutionalized a system known as fractional-reserve banking, in 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 the Basel Accords, an international capital standard.
Banking in its modern sense developed in the 14th century in the prosperous cities of Renaissance Italy, but in many ways functioned as a continuation of ideas and concepts of credit and lending that had their roots in the ancient world. In the history of banking, a number of banking dynasties, notably the Medicis, the Pazzi, the Fuggers, the Welsers, the Berenbergs, and the Rothschilds, have played a central role over many centuries. The oldest existing retail bank is Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (founded in 1472), while the oldest existing merchant bank is Berenberg Bank (founded in 1590).
In South Korea, the main categories are the first-tier financial sector and the second-tier financial sector.
See also
- Narrow banking - Offering of services by a financial institution holding exclusively government bonds
- Overdraft - Payments from a bank account exceeding the balance
- Overdraft protection - Payments from a bank account exceeding the balance
- Venture capital - Form of private-equity financing
- Public bank - State-owned or noncommercial financial institution
- Savings and loan association - Type of financial institution
- Savings bank - Financial institution focused on savings deposits
- Money
- Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT)
- Neobank
- Online banking
- Mobile banking
- Regional bank
- ISO 9362
- List of financial institutions in South Korea
- First-tier financial sector
- korean-bank-tx-crawler – fetch Korean personal bank transaction history in 3 lines of Python