Retail banking, also known as consumer banking or personal banking, is the provision of services by a

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

to the

general public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...

, rather than to companies, corporations or other banks, which are often described as

wholesale banking Wholesale banking is the provision of services by banks to larger customers or organizations such as mortgage brokers, large corporate clients, mid-sized companies, real estate developers and investors, international trade finance businesses, i ...

. Banking services which are regarded as retail include provision of

savings Wealth is the abundance of valuable financial assets or physical possessions which can be converted into a form that can be used for transactions. This includes the core meaning as held in the originating Old English word , which is from an I ...

and transactional accounts, mortgages,

personal loan Personal may refer to: Aspects of persons' respective individualities * Privacy * Personality * Personal, personal advertisement, variety of classified advertisement used to find romance or friendship Companies * Personal, Inc., a Washington ...

s, debit cards, and

credit card A credit card is a payment card issued to users (cardholders) to enable the cardholder to pay a merchant for goods and services based on the cardholder's accrued debt (i.e., promise to the card issuer to pay them for the amounts plus the ot ...

s. Retail banking is also distinguished from

investment banking Investment banking pertains to certain activities of a financial services company or a corporate division that consist in advisory-based financial transactions on behalf of individuals, corporations, and governments. Traditionally associated wit ...

or commercial banking. It may also refer to a division or department of a bank which deals with individual customers. In the U.S., the term

commercial bank A commercial bank is a financial institution which accepts deposits from the public and gives loans for the purposes of consumption and investment to make profit. It can also refer to a bank, or a division of a large bank, which deals with cor ...

is used for a ''normal'' bank to distinguish it from an

investment bank Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort. In finance, the purpose of investing is ...

. After the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagion ...

, the Glass–Steagall Act restricted normal banks to banking activities, and investment banks to

capital market A capital market is a financial market in which long-term debt (over a year) or equity-backed securities are bought and sold, in contrast to a money market where short-term debt is bought and sold. Capital markets channel the wealth of savers ...

activities. That distinction was repealed in the 1990s. Commercial bank can also refer to a bank or a division of a bank that deals mostly with deposits and loans from corporations or large businesses, as opposed to individual members of the public (retail banking).

Products

Halifax bank, Commercial Street, Leeds (27th May 2010)

Typical banking services offered by retail banks include: * Transactional accounts **

Checking account A transaction account, also called a checking account, chequing account, current account, demand deposit account, or share draft account at credit unions, is a deposit account held at a bank or other financial institution. It is available to the ...

s (

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States and in most circumstances ...

) ** Current accounts (

British English British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Oxford Dictionaries, " English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadly ...

) *

Savings account A savings account is a bank account at a retail bank. Common features include a limited number of withdrawals, a lack of cheque and linked debit card facilities, limited transfer options and the inability to be overdrawn. Traditionally, transac ...

s * Debit cards *

ATM card An ATM card is a payment card or dedicated payment card issued by a financial institution (i.e. a bank) which enables a customer to access their financial accounts via its and others' automated teller machines (ATMs) and to make approved point ...

s *

Credit card A credit card is a payment card issued to users (cardholders) to enable the cardholder to pay a merchant for goods and services based on the cardholder's accrued debt (i.e., promise to the card issuer to pay them for the amounts plus the ot ...

s * Traveler's cheques *

Mortgage A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law jurisdicions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners to raise funds for any pu ...

s *

Home equity loan A home equity loan is a type of loan in which the borrowers use the equity of their home as collateral. The loan amount is determined by the value of the property, and the value of the property is determined by an appraiser from the lending in ...

s *

Personal loan Personal may refer to: Aspects of persons' respective individualities * Privacy * Personality * Personal, personal advertisement, variety of classified advertisement used to find romance or friendship Companies * Personal, Inc., a Washington ...

s * Certificates of deposit/ Term deposits In some countries, such as the U.S., retail bank services also include more specialised accounts, such as: * Sweep accounts * Money market accounts *

Individual Retirement Account An individual retirement account (IRA) in the United States is a form of pension provided by many financial institutions that provides tax advantages for retirement savings. It is a trust that holds investment assets purchased with a taxpayer's e ...

s (IRA's)

Sub-types of retail banks

Community development bank Community development bank (CDB) or Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) is a development bank or credit union that focus on serving people who have been locked out of the traditional financial systems such as the unbanked or under ...

are regulated banks that provide financial services and credit to underserved markets or populations. * Private banks manage the assets of

high-net-worth individual High-net-worth individual (HNWI) is a term used by some segments of the financial services industry to designate persons whose investible wealth (assets such as stocks and bonds) exceeds a given amount. Typically, these individuals are defined ...

s. *

Offshore bank An offshore bank is a bank regulated under international banking license (often called offshore license), which usually prohibits the bank from establishing any business activities in the jurisdiction of establishment. Due to less regulation and ...

s are banks located in jurisdictions with low taxation and regulation. Many offshore banks are essentially private banks. * Savings banks accept

deposits. * Postal savings banks are savings banks associated with national postal systems.

References

* Tiwari, Rajnish and Buse, Stephan (2006)
The German Banking Sector: Competition, Consolidation and Contentment
Hamburg University of Technology (TU Hamburg-Harburg) * Brunner, A., Decressin, J. / Hardy, D. / Kudela, B. (2004): Germanys Three-Pillar Banking System – Cross-Country Perspectives in Europe, Occasional Paper, International Monetary Fund, Washington DC 2004. {{DEFAULTSORT:Retail Banking Banking Scottish inventions Service retailing

Products

Sub-types of retail banks

See also

References