Commercial bank

A commercial bank is a type of financial institution that provides services such as accepting deposits, making business loans, and offering basic investment products. Commercial bank can also refer to a bank, or a division of a large bank, which more specifically deals with deposit and loan services provided to corporations or large/middle-sized business - as opposed to individual members of the public/small business - retail banking, or merchant banks.

The name bank derives from the Italian word banco "desk/bench", used during the Renaissance era by Florentine bankers, who used to carry out their transactions on a desk covered by a green tablecloth. However, traces of banking activity can be found even in ancient times.

In the United States the term "commercial bank" was often used to distinguish it from an investment bank due to differences in bank regulation. After the Great Depression, through the Glass–Steagall Act, the U.S. Congress required that commercial banks only engage in banking activities, whereas investment banks were limited to capital market activities. This separation was mostly repealed in 1999 by the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act but was restored by the Volcker Rule, implemented in January 2014 as part of the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010.

The general role of commercial banks is to provide financial services to general public and business, ensuring economic and social stability and sustainable growth of the economy.

In this respect, "credit creation" is the most significant function of commercial banks. While sanctioning a loan to a customer, they do not provide cash to the borrower. Instead, they open a deposit account from which the borrower can withdraw. In other words, while sanctioning a loan, they automatically create deposits, known as a "credit creation from commercial banks".

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