bank

bank A commercial institution licensed as a taker of deposits. Banks are concerned mainly with making and receiving payments on behalf of their customers, accepting deposits, and making short-term loans to private individuals, companies, and other organizations. In the UK, the banking system comprises the Bank of England (the central bank), the commercial banks, merchant banks, branches of foreign and Commonwealth banks, the National Savings Bank, and the National Girobank (see GIRO). The first (1990) building society to become a bank in the UK was the Abbey National, after its public flotation; other building societies have now followed this precedent. In other countries banks are also usually supervised by a government-controlled central bank.