Company Overview
The Origin of Standard Bank Ltd.
Banks are important financial institutions, which play a vital role in the economy of a country. It deals with credit i.e., accepts deposit from the public and advances various loans. The system of banking is very ancient. It was prevalent in India, Greece and Rome. It arose out of the logical fact that people who possessed surplus money deposited them for safe keeping to whom they have confidence, payable after a period of time when the need would arise. The holders of this surplus money soon found out that it was profitable to lend out the money, the provided loans were repaid before the date when the money would be demanded.

The bankers or the holders of the money give sign papers to their depositors as evidence of the deposit money. As people had confidence in the integrity and the solvency of the banker their signed papers would pass from hand to hand in the settlement of transaction. These papers were the origin of notes as people had confidence in the credit of the bankers only, as small proportion of notes/signed papers would be presented for encashment during a period. The later were able to lend out the major portion of their deposits with safety, thus earning a decent profit with other people’s money. As the business landing money became more and profitable, money holders began to offer interest on the money deposited with then at a rate lower than that obtained on loans. In course of time cheque were adopted and this imparted elasticity to the system. Thus came into existence the system of commercial banking. A bank can be best by its functions, it collects the savings of the public, it gives loans and advances and it creates media of exchanges through cheque. A commercial bank is a dealer in short term credit. In addition to the above, bank performs various other functions:
a)