Commercial banks are the most important banks. They offer many services, different forms of accounts and also loans. While, at first, commercial banks only offered their services to businesses and companies, they are for everyone today.


Investment banks do not take or keep the money of individuals. They help organizations and large companies raise money on the international financial markets.


Central banks manage the banking system in a country. The Federal Reserve in the United States and Bank of England are two prominent banks that take over these tasks. The European Central Bank is responsible for the circulation of money in the Euro zone.


Online banks can often give their customers more interest because they do not have the expenses that physical banks do. They can be accessed over the internet and are becoming more and more popular.


Savings and loans are banks that specialize in financing houses. Although interest rates are higher, such banks offer up to 30-year mortgages. Customers pay back their loan through a monthly payment that they can afford.


Development banks are financial organizations that help Third World Countries. They not only provide money for nations in Africa, Asia and South America, but also send aid workers and offer technical help.


The Federal Reserve Bank in Washington D.C.
Image: AgnosticPreachersKid, CC BY-SA 3.0,
via Wikimedia Commons


Words

  • access = use
  • account = the place where your money is kept
  • afford = to have enough money to spend on something
  • aid = help
  • circulation = movement, flow
  • expenses = the mount of money that you spend on something
  • individual = single person
  • interest = the extra money you must pay back when you borrow money from a bank
  • interest rate = the percentage that banks give to savers when they leave their money there or charge customers when they borrow money
  • loan = the money you borrow from a bank
  • manage = control, organize
  • mortgage = agreement between a customer and a bank in which it lends you money to buy a house; you have to pay back the money with interest over a longer period of time
  • offer = provide, give
  • payment = monthly sum
  • physical bank = here: bank in a building that you can go to
  • prominent = well-known, famous
  • raise = collect, gather
  • responsible = in charge of
  • service = help or other types of work that you offer a customer
  • specialize = concentrate on
  • task = here: service