Other Business & Society

The U.S. Congress created the Federal Reserve Bank (the Fed) in order to regulate the money supply. The Fed accomplishes this goal by setting interest rates for member banks and selling government...

Monetary policy consists of the methods by which governments regulate their nations' banking systems and the money supply. The framework in which monetary policy exists consists of policy...

Commercial banks are also called business or consumer banks. These banks provide services to the public that consist of checking, savings and money market accounts, and other traditional banking...

Merchant banking is the direct, negotiated investment of private money into privately or publicly held companies by financial institutions or professional investors. The investors make private...

Each bank sets a base lending rate that is referred to as its prime rate. It is based on fluctuations in the federal funds rate, because most banks manage their cash positions by borrowing and...

Bank-owned property refers to property that has gone through the foreclosure process and title to that property has been transferred to the bank that lent the money for the original purchase....

Before the Gramm-Leach-Billey Act (Financial Services Modernization Act) of 1999, the merger of investment banks and commercial banks (the name given to normal banks to differentiate them from...

Commercial banks have been a main function of economic markets for hundreds of years. While certain functions have changed to meet the needs of consumers and businesses, overall the main services...

The term "bank" is applied to a variety of financial intermediaries. The financial intermediary matches suppliers of capital to invest against those who are in need of capital financing. The...

When money is tight, interest rates on commercial loans, mortgages, credit cards, etc. go up. These hikes are engineered by a central bank, such as the Federal Reserve in the U.S. or the Bank of...

Commercial banks are extremely important in industry, by providing the loanable funds that these industries need to expand and develop. Banks are also involved with industry in other ways, like...

Monetary policy refers to the range of policy actions and instruments by which governments, through central banks, try to affect a nation's money supply, its interest rates or both. Through...

Commercial banks seem like an economic curse during a financial crisis, although during an economic boom they seem too good to be true. By accepting deposits and then loaning out money, banks are...

During times of economic woe in America, there remain a few sectors that actually make money while the majority of people scramble to save theirs. These sectors range from big government to...

Economists have debated the effectiveness of monetary policy--the actions taken by central banks to stem inflation and foster sustainable levels of employment and production--since the time of the...

Business runs on credit. Mortgages, auto loans and credit cards make the "good life" we otherwise could not afford possible. Banks borrow too on a daily basis from each other or their central...

Mention the term "commercial bank" and the likes of Chase, Citicorp and Bank of America immediately come to mind. You may have a checking account, a mortgage, a credit card or an investment...

There are two main ways that the government can attempt to influence the economy. One is called fiscal policy. This is when the government changes tax laws and government spending to try to shift...

Electronic banking, or e-banking, is the term that describes all transactions that take place among companies, organizations, and individuals and their banking institutions. First conceptualized...

Mortgage companies can vary in type quite drastically, from subsidiaries of larger banks to self-sustaining small businesses. Similarly, the employees at mortgage companies are often considered...

There are some key points to remember when interviewing at a bank that will help leave a positive impression. Although many banking jobs don't require high-level college degrees, banks want...

Farmers have always needed a reliable source of credit, and in 1732 the first cooperative credit system was formed in New London, Connecticut. Government help, however---especially long-term...

In the United States, the interest rates for monies lent depend on a number of factors. Everything from income, credit history, where one seeks to borrow from and even the purpose for borrowing...

Congress passed the Federal Reserve Act, which was signed into law by President Wilson in December of 1913, after a series of devastating financial crises. Along with succeeding acts such as the...

The term "bank rate" refers to the interest rate a nation's central bank charges on loans to commercial banks. The bank rate is often used by central banks to influence the rates that commercial...

What started as one of the largest corporate providers of energy and commerce at the beginnings of the twenty-first century, had become the largest corporation to collapse within a year. The...

One of the ways commercial banks make money is by charging fees and penalties. For example, you may pay a monthly fee if you have a savings or checking account, an annual fee if you have a credit...

Banks offer a variety of deposit accounts ranging from regular checking to money market accounts. A NOW account is a type of deposit account that has features similar to a money market account....

The key players in the U.S. bond market work in a system that trades debt securities. Various governments, institutions and banks play a significant role in issuing and purchasing this debt....

Regions Bank is a major financial institution in the southern portion of the US. It provides both individual and corporate services which it delivers at over 2,000 branch banks and at 2,400 ATMs...

Bank notes differ from regular loans in that they are for a certain period of time and then the entire amount plus interest is due. Often they are used to cover an interim period of time when a...