Money creation, ormoney issuance, is the process by which themoney supply of a country or economic region is increased. In most modern economies, bothcentral banks andcommercial banks create money. Central banks issue money as a liability, typically called reserve deposits, which is available only for use by central bank account holders. These account holders are generally large commercial banks and foreign central banks.

Central banks can increase the quantity of reserve deposits directly by making loans to account holders, purchasingassets from account holders, or by recording an asset (such as a deferred asset) and directly increasing liabilities. However, the majority of the money supply that the public uses for conductingtransactions is created by the commercial banking system in the form of commercial bank deposits. Bank loans issued by commercial banks expand the quantity of bank deposits. (Full article...)

Amoney market account (MMA) ormoney market deposit account (MMDA) is adeposit account that pays interest based on currentinterest rates in themoney markets. The interest rates paid are generally higher than those ofsavings accounts andtransaction accounts; however, some banks will require higher minimum balances in money market accounts to avoid monthly fees and to earn interest.

Money market accounts should not be confused withmoney market funds, which aremutual funds that invest inmoney market securities. (Full article...)

Anautomated teller machine (ATM) is an electronictelecommunications device that enables customers offinancial institutions to performfinancial transactions, such as cash withdrawals, deposits, funds transfers, balance or account information inquiries, at any time and without the need for direct interaction with bank staff.

ATMs are known by a variety of other names, including automatic teller machines (ATMs) in the United States (sometimesredundantly as "ATM machine"). In Canada, the termautomated banking machine (ABM) is also used, although ATM is also very commonly used in Canada, with many Canadian organizations using ATM rather than ABM. In British English, the termscashpoint,cash machine andhole in the wall are also used. ATMs that arenot operated by a financial institution are known as "white-label" ATMs. (Full article...)

"Banq" and "banc" are alternative spellings used in company names to evade legal restrictions on the use of the word 'bank' while maintaining a similar pronunciation. This practice is common in the financial services industry, particularly in the United States. (Full article...)

Wire transfer,bank transfer, orcredit transfer, is a method ofelectronic funds transfer from oneperson or entity to another. A wire transfer can be made from onebank account to another bank account, or through a transfer of cash at a cash office.

Different wire transfer systems and operators provide a variety of options relative to the immediacy and finality of settlement and the cost, value, and volume oftransactions.Central bank wire transfer systems, such as theFederal Reserve'sFedwire system in the United States, are more likely to bereal-time gross settlement (RTGS) systems, as they provide the quickest availability of funds. (Full article...)

Acheque (orcheck inAmerican English) is a document that orders abank,building society, orcredit union, to pay a specific amount of money from a person's account to the person in whose name the cheque has been issued. The person writing the cheque, known as thedrawer, has atransaction banking account (often called a current, cheque, chequing, checking, or share draft account) where the money is held. The drawer writes various details including themonetary amount, date, and apayee on the cheque, and signs it, ordering their bank, known as thedrawee, to pay the amount of money stated to the payee.

Although forms of cheques have been in use since ancient times and at least since the 9th century, they became a highly popular non-cash method for makingpayments during the 20th century and usage of cheques peaked. By the second half of the 20th century, as cheque processing became automated, billions of cheques were issued annually; these volumes peaked in or around the early 1990s. Since then cheque usage has fallen, being replaced by electronic payment systems, such asdebit cards,credit cards, andmobile payments. In an increasing number of countries cheques have either become a marginalpayment system or have been completely phased out. (Full article...)

TheCAMELS rating is a supervisory rating system originally developed in the U.S. to classify a bank's overall condition. It is applied to every bank and credit union in the U.S. and is also implemented outside the U.S. by various banking supervisory regulators.

The ratings are assigned based on a ratio analysis of the financial statements, combined with on-site examinations made by a designated supervisory regulator. In the U.S. these supervisory regulators include theFederal Reserve, theOffice of the Comptroller of the Currency, theNational Credit Union Administration, theFarm Credit Administration, and theFederal Deposit Insurance Corporation. (Full article...)

Adebit card, also known as acheck card,cheque card orbank card, is apayment card that can be used in place ofcash to make purchases. The card usually consists of the bank's name, a card number, the cardholder's name, and an expiration date, on either the front or the back. Many new cards now have a chip on them, which allows people to use their card by touch (contactless), or by inserting the card and keying in a PIN as with swiping the magnetic stripe. Debit cards are similar to acredit card, but the money for the purchase must be in the cardholder'sbank account at the time of the purchase and is immediately transferred directly from that account to the merchant's account to pay for the purchase.

Some debit cards carry astored value with which a payment is made (prepaid cards), but most relay a message to the cardholder's bank to withdraw funds from the cardholder's designated bank account. In some cases, thepayment card number is assigned exclusively for use on the Internet, and there is no physical card. This is referred to as avirtual card. (Full article...)

Atime deposit orterm deposit (also known as acertificate of deposit in theUnited States, and as aguaranteed investment certificate inCanada) is adeposit in afinancial institution with a specificmaturity date or a period to maturity, commonly referred to as its "term". Time deposits differ fromat call deposits, such assavings orchecking accounts, which can be withdrawn at any time, without any notice or penalty. Deposits that require notice of withdrawal to be given are effectively time deposits, though they do not have a fixed maturity date.

Unlike a certificate of deposit andbonds, a time deposit is generallynot negotiable; it is not transferable by the depositor, so that depositors need to deal with the financial institution when they need to prematurely cash out of the deposit. (Full article...)

AnATM card is a dedicatedpayment card issued by afinancial institution (i.e. abank) which enables a customer to access their financial accounts via its and others'automated teller machines (ATMs) and, in some countries, to make approved point of purchase retail transactions. Many ATM cards also doubled ascheque guarantee cards. ATM cards are notcredit cards ordebit cards, however most credit and debit cards can also act as ATM cards and that is the most common way that banks issue cards since the 2010s.

ATM cards are payment card size and styleplastic cards with amagnetic stripe and/or a plasticsmart card with achip that contains a unique card number and some security information such as an expiration date orCVVC (CVV). ATM cards are known by a variety of names such asbank card,MAC (money access card),client card,key card orcash card, among others. Other payment cards, such as debit cards and credit cards can also function as ATM cards. Charge and proprietary cards cannot be used as ATM cards. The use of a credit card to withdraw cash at an ATM is treated differently to apoint of sale transaction, usually attracting interest charges from the date of the cash withdrawal. (Full article...)

TheLaurentian Bank of Canada (LBC; French:Banque Laurentienne du Canada) is aSchedule 1 bank that operates primarily in the province ofQuebec, with commercial and business banking offices located in Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, and Nova Scotia. LBC's Institution Number (orrouting number) is 039.

The institution was established as theMontreal City and District Savings Bank in 1846. The bank's shares were publicly listed on theMontreal Stock Exchange in 1965 and theToronto Stock Exchange in 1983. In 1987, the institution was renamed theLaurentian Bank of Canada. (Full article...)

Credit Suisse Group AG (French pronunciation:[kʁe.disɥis],lit. 'Swiss Credit') was a globalinvestment bank andfinancial services firm founded and based in Switzerland. According toUBS, eventually Credit Suisse was to be fully integrated into UBS. While the integration was yet to be completed, both banks operated separately. However, on May 31, 2024, it was announced that Credit Suisse ceased to exist. Headquartered inZürich, as a standalone firm, it maintained offices in all majorfinancial centres around the world and provided services ininvestment banking,private banking,asset management, andshared services. It was known for strictbank–client confidentiality andbanking secrecy. TheFinancial Stability Board considered it to be aglobal systemically important bank. Credit Suisse was also aprimary dealer andForex counterparty of theFederal Reserve in the United States.

Credit Suisse was founded in 1856 to fund the development ofSwitzerland's rail system. It issued loans that helped create Switzerland'selectrical grid and theEuropean rail system. In the 1900s, it began shifting toretail banking in response to the elevation of the middle class and competition from fellow Swiss banks UBS andJulius Bär. Credit Suisse partnered withFirst Boston in 1978 before buying a controlling share of the bank in 1988. From 1990 to 2000, the company purchased institutions such asWinterthur Group, Swiss Volksbank, Swiss American Securities Inc. (SASI), andBank Leu. (Full article...)

ING Group N.V. (Dutch:ING Groep) is a Dutchmultinationalbanking andfinancial services corporation headquartered inAmsterdam. 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 thelargest banks globally.

ING is the Dutch member of theInter-Alpha Group of Banks, a co-operativeconsortium of 11 prominent European banks. ING Bank has been a member in thelist of global systemically important banks since the list was created in 2011. It has been designated as a Significant Institution since the entry into force ofEuropean Banking Supervision in late 2014, and as a consequence is directly supervised by theEuropean Central Bank. (Full article...)

Toronto-Dominion Bank (French:Banque Toronto-Dominion), doing business asTD Bank Group (Groupe Banque TD), and commonly known as justTD, is a Canadianmultinational banking andfinancial services corporation headquartered inToronto, Ontario. The bank was created on February 1, 1955, through the merger of theBank of Toronto and theDominion Bank, which were founded in 1855 and 1869, respectively. It is one of twoBig Five banks of Canada founded in Toronto, the other being theCanadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.

In 2021, according toStandard & Poor's, TD Bank Group was the largest bank in Canada by total assets and also by market capitalization, a top 15 bank in North America, and the 26thlargest bank in the world. In 2019, it was designated aglobal systemically important bank by theFinancial Stability Board. In 2023, the company was ranked 43rd in theForbes Global 2000. (Full article...)

TheBank of China (BOC;Chinese:中国银行;pinyin:Zhōngguó Yínháng;Portuguese:Banco da China) is a state-owned Chinesemultinational banking andfinancial services corporation headquartered inBeijing, China. It is one of the "big four" banks in China. As of 31 December 2019, it was the second-largest lender in China overall and ninth-largest bank in the world by market capitalization value, and it is considered asystemically important bank by theFinancial Stability Board. As of the end of 2020, it was thefourth-largest bank in the world in terms of total assets, ranked after the other three Chinese banks.

The Bank of China was formed in 1912 by renaming theQing dynasty'sDa-Qing Bank (est. 1905) under the newly established Republican government. Until 1942, it issued banknotes on behalf of the government as one of the "Big Four" banks of the period, together with theBank of Communications (est. 1908),Central Bank of China (est. 1924), andFarmers Bank of China (est. 1933). Following theChinese Communist Revolution in 1949, most of its operations were absorbed into thePeople's Bank of China (PBC); its core operations moved to and continued activity inTaiwan, where it renamed itselfInternational Commercial Bank of China upon privatization in 1971. In 1979, the Bank of China was re-established by spin-off from the PBC in the early phase of thereform and opening up. (Full article...)

Banco Santander S.A.,trading asSantander Group (UK:/ˌsæntənˈdɛər,-tæn-/SAN-tən-DAIR, -⁠tan-,US:/ˌsɑːntɑːnˈdɛər/SAHN-tahn-DAIR,Spanish:[ˈbaŋkosantanˈdeɾ]), is a Spanish multinationalfinancial services company based inSantander, with operative offices inBoadilla del Monte. Additionally, Santander maintains a presence in mostglobal financial centres as the16th-largest banking institution in the world. Although known for its European banking operations, it has extended operations acrossNorth America andSouth America, and more recently incontinental Asia. It is considered asystemically important bank by theFinancial Stability Board.

Many subsidiaries, such asAbbey National, have been rebranded under the Santander name. The company is a component of theEuro Stoxx 50stock market index. In June 2023, Santander was ranked as 49th in theForbes Global 2000 list of the world's biggest public companies. (Full article...)

State Bank of India (SBI) is an Indianmultinationalpublic sectorbank andfinancial services statutory body, headquartered inMumbai. 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 thetenth largest employer in India with nearly 250,000 employees. As of 2024, SBI has 500 million customers.

TheReserve Bank of India (RBI) has identified SBI,HDFC Bank, andICICI Bank asdomestic systemically important banks (D-SIBs), which are often referred to as banks that are "too big to fail". SBI is the43rd largest bank in the world by total assets and ranked 163rd in theFortune Global 500 list of the world's biggest corporations of 2025. In 2024, SBI was ranked 55th inForbes Global 2000. (Full article...)

Japan Post Bank Co., Ltd. (株式会社ゆうちょ銀行,Kabushiki gaisha Yūcho Ginkō) is a Japanesebank headquartered inTokyo. It is a corporation held byJapan Post Holdings, in which the government of Japan has a majority stake.

It is a major financial institution that started in 1875 as apostal savings system, and that still today continues to operate primarily out of post office branches. It manages over ¥205 trillion of assets and offers services in almost 24,000 branches across Japan. At times in its history, it was the largest financial institution in the world. Since its conception, it has played a significant role in both making economic services to people in Japan and making investments towards the economic and industrial development of the country. (Full article...)

TheBank of America Corporation (Bank of America; often abbreviatedBAC orBofA) is an American multinationalinvestment bank andfinancial servicesholding company headquartered at theBank of America Corporate Center inCharlotte, North Carolina, withinvestment banking and auxiliary headquarters inManhattan. The bank was founded by the merger ofNationsBank andBank of America in 1998. It is thesecond-largest banking institution in the United States and the second-largest bank in the world bymarket capitalization, both afterJPMorgan Chase. Bank of America is one of theBig Four banking institutions of the United States, and one of eightsystemically important financial institutions in the United States. It serves about 10 percent of all American bank deposits, in direct competition with JPMorgan Chase,Citigroup, andWells Fargo. Its primary financial services revolve aroundcommercial banking,wealth management, and investment banking.
Through mergers, the oldest branch of the Bank of America franchise dates back to 1784, whenMassachusetts Bank was chartered, becoming the first federally chartered joint-stock-owned bank in the United States. Another branch of its history goes back to the American-basedBank of Italy, founded byAmadeo Pietro Giannini in 1904, which provided various banking services toItalian immigrants whofaced service discrimination at the time. Headquartered inSan Francisco, California, Giannini acquiredBanca d'America e d'Italia in 1922 and eventually did business as Bank of America.

In the 1950s, the passage of landmark federal banking legislation facilitated rapid growth, quickly establishing prominent shares for the present bank's predecessors. After suffering significant losses during the1998 Russian financial crisis, BankAmerica, as it was then known, was acquired by the Charlotte-basedNationsBank for $62 billion. Following what was then thelargest bank acquisition in history, the Bank of America Corporation was founded. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, it built upon its commercial banking business by establishingMerrill Lynch for wealth management andBank of America Merrill Lynch for investment banking in 2008 and 2009, respectively, and since renamed BofA Securities. (Full article...)

ABN AMRO Bank N.V. is the third-largest Dutch bank, with headquarters inAmsterdam. It was initially formed in 1991 by merger of the two prior Dutch banks that form its name,Algemene Bank Nederland (ABN) andAmsterdamsche en Rotterdamsche Bank (AMRO Bank).

Following aggressive international expansion, ABN AMRO was acquired and broken up in 2007–2008 by a consortium of European banks, includingFortis which intended to take over its formed operations in theBenelux region. Fortis came under stress in the autumn of 2008, and was in turn broken up into separate national entities; the Dutch operations, namelyFortis Bank Nederland and the former ABN AMRO activities that Fortis had planned to absorb, were nationalized, restructured, and renamed ABN AMRO in mid-2010. On 20 November 2015, the Dutch government publicly re-listed the company through anIPO and sold 20 percent of the shares to the public. (Full article...)