THE BANKING SYSTEM (1)

THE BANKING SYSTEM (1)

Banking and financial market operations involve special institutions and financial markets; they act within a legislative framework and offer specialized services to individuals, companies, governments. Lets present some of them.

The Bank of England is the central bank of the kingdom. It acts as a banker to all the other banks and government; it issues the bank notes; it manages the national debt; it lends money to all the banking institutions; it regulates the monetary and credit conditions and supervises the banking system.

The commercial banks are ruled by the Banking Act of 1987 and

are allowed to take deposits and lend money on the retail and wholesale markets. They offer banking services.

Retail banks offer their services to the individuals and medium sized businesses. They operate through branches which offer cash deposits, withdrawal facilities as well as possibilities of transferring funds. They provide facilities to different types of account such as current accounts, deposit accounts; they offer loans and different financial services.

International banking is developing. Foreign banks have branches everywhere, especially in the large cities and important towns of the countries. London is famous for this. There are banks which operate mainly overseas and are specialized in particular areas of the world: Far East, Asia, South Africa, and South America.

Text Comprehension

a) Answer the questions:

1. What do banking and financial markets involve?

2. What does the Bank of England do?

3. Do you know anything about the National Bank of Romania?

4. What do you know about the commercial banks?

5. What do the retail banks do?

6. Can you describe some Romanian banks?

7. What can you tell about international banking?

8. Are there international banks in Romania?

9. Are there Romanian banks abroad?

Banking vocabulary

Account (cont gestionat de o banca)

Balance of payments (registrele care reflecta tranzactiile unei companii cu lumea din afara)

Bank deposit (deposit bancar)

Bank charge (comision bancar)

Bank draft (trata)

Current account (cont curent)

Drawer (persoana care semneaza o cambie)

Drawee (persoana careia i s-a tras o cambie)

Insurance (asigurare)

Liquidity (masura a lichiditatii activelor unei organizatii)

Market (piata)

Negotiable (negociabil)

Overdraft (plafon de creditare)

Penalty (penalizare)

Profitability (capacitatea  de a face profit))

Savings (economii)

Share (actiune, parte sociala)

Withdrawal (retragere )

3.Topics for speaking and writing

- Write a short composition (200 words), using the above given vocabulary

- Translate the following sentences:

BANKING SYSTEM (2)

Merchant Banks have their roots in the banking activity the merchants were involved in, as an extension of their own trading. They used to help foreign governments to get loans, to accept bills of exchange. Nowadays, they offer services including corporate finance, foreign exchange dealings, security trading.

National Savings is a saving scheme supported by the government which aids government borrowing using a set of saving instruments. Some of  these are the fixed-interest and index-linked Savings Certificates. The National Savings, at the very beginning, offered deposit services to customers, through Post Office branches. It does not make loans.

Discount Houses are specific to Britain and are an important element of the British monetary system. They are between the Bank of England and the rest of the banking sector; they promote the orderly flow of funds between the authorities and the banks. They receive the liquid money of the banking sector, lend to the government  for the weekly offer of Treasury Bills. They trade on the wholesale money market.

Investment institutions collect the savings from the persons and corporation sectors; they invest them in securities and in different assets. Some of them are: insurance companies, insurance brokers, pension funds, unit trusts, investment trusts.

Special financial institutions operate in the public sector and in the private one. They offer loan finance and equity capital. The latter include finance houses, leasing houses, factoring companies, venture capital companies.

Text Comprehension

1. Answer the questions

1. Who founded the merchant banks and why?

2.Do we have such banks in Romania?

3.What can you tell about the National Savings ?

4.Does Romania have such a system and how does it act?

5. How do discount houses act?

6.What are the investment institutions?

7.Where do special finance institutions operate ?

Banking vocabulary

Acquisition  accounting (proceduri contabile efectuate cand o companie este preluata de o alta )

Bill of exchange (un tip de cambie)

Bill of lading (conosament)

Charge (ipoteca legala asupra unui teren/ proprietate)

Collateral  (categorie de titluri de valoare)

Commercial loan selling (tranzactie care implica doua banci si un client industrial)

Due date ( scadenta de plata, de ex. data maturitatii unei cambii)

Financial intermediary ( o banca care detine fonduri imprumutate de la creditori , spre a imprumuta debitori )

Finance house (societate de credit)

Fund (fond comun de resurse monetare si de alt tip )

Funds transfer (transfer al fondului )

Home banking (sistem bancar national)

Interest (dobanda perceputa la imprumutarea unei sume de bani)

Liability (datorie, obligatie)

Merger (fuziunea a doua sau mai multe firme)

Principal (mandat; persoana in numele careia actioneaza un mandatar)

Solvency (suma cu care activele unei banci depasesc obligatiile)

Unit banking (sistem bancar, in care o banca infiinteaza o companie unica, fara filiale )

Wholesale (banking imprumuturi interbancare sau imprumuturi acordate catre sau de catre alte mari institutii financiare)

3. Topics for speaking and writing

Build up sentences using the above given vocabulary

Write a short composition (about 200 words) about Romanian banks