Merchant banks in Britain raise funds for industry on the various financial markets, finance international trade, issue and underwrite securities, deal with takeovers and mergers, and issue government bonds. They also generally offer stock broking and portfolio management services to rich corporate and individual clients. Investment banks in the USA are similar, but they can only act as intermediaries offering advisory services, and do not offer loans themselves. Investment banks make their profits from the fees and commissions they charge for their services.
In the USA, the Glass-Steagall Act of 1934 enforced a strict separation between commercial banks and investment banks or stock broking firms. Yet, the distinction between commercial and investment banking has become less clear in recent years. Deregulation in the USA and Britain is leading to the creation of ‘financial supermarkets’: conglomerates combining the services previously offered by banks, stockbrokers, insurance companies, and so on. In some European countries (notably Germany, Austria and Switzerland) there have always been universal banks combining deposit and loan banking with share and bond dealing and investment services.
A country’s minimum interest rate is usually fixed by the central bank. This is the discount rate, at which the central bank makes secured loans to commercial banks. Banks lend to blue chip borrowers (very safe large companies) at the base rate or the prime rate; all other borrowers pay more, depending on their credit standing (or credit rating, or creditworthiness): the lender’s estimation of their present and future solvency. Borrowers can usually get a lower interest rate if the loan is secured or guaranteed by some kind of asset, known as collateral.
In most financial centers, there are also branches of lots of foreign banks, largely doing Eurocurrency business. A Eurocurrency is any currency held outside its country of origin. The first significant Eurocurrency market was for US dollars in Europe, but the name is now used for foreign currencies held anywhere in the world (e. g. yen in the US, DM in Japan). Since the US$ is the world’s most important trading currency - and because the US has for many years had a huge trade deficit - there is a market of many billions of Eurodollars, including the oil-exporting countries’ ‘petrodollars’. Although a central bank can determine the minimum lending rate for its national currency it has no control over the foreign currencies. Furthermore, banks are not obliged to deposit any of their Eurocurrency assets at 0% interest with the central bank, which means that they can usually offer better rates to borrowers and depositors than in the home country.
EXERCISE 1
Read the text below and write short headings (one or two words) for each paragraph.
EXERCISE 2
Find the words or expressions in the text, which mean the following.
1. to place money in a bank; or money placed in a bank
2. the money used in countries other than one’s own
3. how much money a loan pays, expressed as a percentage
4. available cash, and how easily other assets can be turned into cash
5. the date when a loan becomes repayable
6. to guarantee to buy all the new shares that a company issues, if they cannot be sold to the public
7. when a company buys or acquires another one
8. when a company combines with another one
9. buying and selling stocks or shares for the clients
10. taking care of all clients investments
11. the ending or relaxing of legal restrictions
12. a group of companies, operating in different fields, that have joined together
13. a company considered to be without risk
14. ability to pay liabilities when they become due
15. anything that acts as a security or a guarantee for a loan
EXERCISE 3
Which of the following three paragraphs most accurately and concisely summarizes the text, and what is wrong with the others?
First summary:
Commercial banks hold customers’ deposits and make loans. Investment banks raise funds for industry. Deregulation in Britain and the US is leading to the creation of financial conglomerates similar to the universal banks that have always existed in German-speaking countries. A country’s minimum interest rate is usually fixed; banks charge progressively higher rates to less secure borrowers. Many banks also do Eurocurrency business — lending foreign currencies, notably dollars, at lower rates than in the currencies’ home countries.
Second summary:
Commercial banks receive deposits and make loans. Merchant and investment banks arrange security issues and offer other investment services. Yet, the traditional distinction between commercial and investment banks is now breaking down. Domestic interest rates are fixed by central banks. Many banks also have branches abroad that do Eurocurrency business, making loans in other European currencies.
Third, summary:
Commercial banks receive deposits, lend money, and provide other services. Merchant and investment banks lend money to industry. British and American banks are now joining together in conglomerates. The interest rates that banks charge depend on the borrowers’ creditworthiness. European banks also do a lot of Eurodollar and petrodollar business.
EXERCISE 4
Answer the following questions:
1. Which of the banking facilities listed in the texts do you use?
2. What other services do commercial banks offer in your country?
3. What changes have there been in personal banking recently?
4. What further changes do you foresee in the future?
Text 12
Bank Organization
Banks are among the most important financial institutions. The way in which a bank is organized and operates is determined by its objectives. The first and most important function of a central bank is to accept responsibility for advising the government on the making of the country's financial policy, and then to see that it is carried out. The aim of commercial banks is to earn profit. Over the years banks have developed organizational forms, or structures, designed to perform these various roles and to supply the services their customers demand.
A commercial bank which provides the same range of services year after year is less likely to be ccessfully competing in the constantly changing global business environment requires market-driven strategies that are responsive to customers' needs and wants. Executives who do not recognize the changes occurring in the vast array of markets for products and services will not be able to cope with the unprecedented competitive pressure in the market place. To improve competitive advantages they are drastically altering their business and marketing strategies which may include downsizing, repositioning, market segmentation, market niching, altering the business portfolio, pricing, promotion and strategic alliances between companies. With the global increase in the number of competitors banks face in their major markets, more and more banking firms have become market-driven and more alert to the changing service demands of their customers and also to the challenges posed by bank and non-bank competitors. This trend forced bank managers to become more concerned with service marketing activities and with profitability and growth.
Banks are usually organized to follow their functions and supply the services demanded by them as efficiently as possible. Moreover, because larger banks generally play a wider range of roles and offer more services, a bank's size is also a significant factor in determining how banks are organized.
Such small community banks, typical of hundreds of banks serving small and medium-size communities are heavily committed to attracting smaller consumer-oriented deposits and making consumer installment and small business loans. A bank like this is often called a retail bank as opposed to a wholesale institution that concentrates mainly upon serving commercial customers and making large corporate loans.
The service operations of a small bank usually are monitored by a cashier and auditor working in the accounting division and by vice-presidents heading up the bank's loan, fundraising, marketing and trust departments (if the bank offers trust services). These officers report to the senior executives of the firm, consisting of the board chairman, the president (who usually runs the bank from day to day), and senior vice-presidents, who are responsible for long-range planning and for assisting heads of the various departments in solving their most pressing problems. Senior management, in turn, reports periodically (at least once each month) to members of the board of directors — the committee selected by the shareholders to set a policy and oversee the bank's performance. There is often close contact between top management and the management and staff of each line ch banks present a relatively low-risk working environment, but with limited opportunities for rapid advancement or for the development of new banking skills. Nevertheless, such banks place the banker close to the customer and give bank employees the opportunity to see how their activities, especially in granting loans can have a real impact on the vitality and quality of life in local communities. The organization chart of a large money bank is much more complex.
The large banks possess some potential advantages over small and medium-size banks. Because the largest institutions serve many different markets with many different services, they are better diversified, both geographically and by product line, to withstand the risks of a fluctuating economy. They also possess the important advantage of being able to raise financial capital at relatively low cost and the professional expertise to focus that new capital on the most promising loans and business acquisitions.
The oldest and most common banking organizations in the United States are unit banks. They offer all of their services from one office though a small number of services (such as taking deposits or cashing checks) may be offered from limited-service facilities, such as drive-in windows, automated teller machines (ATM) and retail store point-of-sale (POS) terminals that are linked to the bank's computer system. Nowadays, however, most banks desire to open up new market areas and to diversify geographically in order to reduce the risk that comes from relying on a single office location for customers and income. The tendency in recent years has been for most banking institutions to become more complex organizations. When a bank begins to grow it usually adds new services and new facilities. With them come new departments and divisions to help the management more effectively to focus and control the bank's resources and service the most profitable customer segments.
|
Из за большого объема этот материал размещен на нескольких страницах:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 |
