Finance Guide

Banking is the most fundamental of all financial services. In its most basic form, it involves storing money on behalf of those who own it, and making it available for collection in a number of places and ways. Banking first emerged in something like its modern guise in the middle ages when the demands of an expanding trade economy created the need for financial services among the merchant class.
In the modern industrial world, the vast majority of adults own bank accounts identified by a unique number or sequence of numbers. Using an account number, it is possible for third parties to make payments into the account and for the account owner to transfer money to others.

In some countries, bank accounts are traditionally free, while in others it is normal for a monthly or quarterly fee to be paid.

Banks typically pay interest on any positive balances held in an account and often allow their bank account customers to withdraw more money than they actually have in the account through a debt facility known as an overdraft.

Because banks know that their bank account holders will not normally request all of their funds at once, they are able to maintain a stock of reserve cash which is lower than their total outstanding liabilities, leveraging the remainder for investment purposes.