A bank is a financial institution licensed by a government. Its primary activities include providing financial services to customers while enriching its investors. Many financial activities were allowed over time. For example banks are important players in financial markets and offer financial services such as investment funds. In some countries such as Germany, banks have historically owned major stakes in industrial corporations while in other countries such as the United States banks are prohibited from owning non-financial companies. In Japan, banks are usually the nexus of a cross-share holding entity known as the zaibatsu. In France, bancassurance is prevalent, as most banks offer insurance services to their clients.
The name bank derives from the Italian word banco "desk/bench", used during the Renaissance by Jewish Florentine bankers, who used to make their transactions above a desk covered by a green tablecloth.[2] However, there are traces of banking activity even in ancient times..[3]The earliest evidence of money-changing activity is depicted on a silver drachm coin from ancient Hellenic colony Trapezus on the Black Sea, modern Trabzon, , presented in the British Museum in London. The coin shows a banker's table (trapeza) laden with coins, a pun on the name of the city.In fact, even today in Modern Greek the word Trapeza (Τράπεζα) means both a table and a bank.
Traditional banking activities
Banks act as payment agents by conducting checking or current accounts for customers, paying cheques drawn by customers on the bank, and collecting cheques deposited to customers' current accounts. Banks also enable customer payments via other payment methods such as telegraphic transfer, and ATM.Banks borrow money by accepting funds deposited on current accounts, by accepting term deposits, and by issuing debt securities such as banknotes and bonds. Banks lend