Chapter 3 - Banks and Financial Institutions Flashcards
Commercial Bank
- Most common type of FI
- Accepts deposits and makes commercial loans
- Must possess a federal or state charter
- Services include:
□ Depository Accounts
□ Credit Services
□ Transaction Processing
□ Information Reporting
□ Trade Services
□ FX
□ Financial Risk Mgmt Services
Term Loans
borrow up to a specified amount to be repaid by a specific date
Revolving Line of Credit
- borrow up to a specific amount, repay all or some, and borrow again
- may be subject to a clean up period, pay down line for a specified period of time (e.g. 30 days)
Overdraft Facility
- allows companies to borrow by overdrawing on their account (negative balance)
- repayable on demand and usually unsecured
Commercial Paper
- unsecured, discounted, short-term promissory notes issued by companies or commercial bank holding companies
- is another way for corporates / institutional customers to acquire credit
- FI acts as agents to place CP with investors
- CP’s are rated for default risk by credit rating agencies; ratings affect interest rates
Municipal Securities
- bonds and notes issued by city, county, state govt entities
- interest paid on muni’s are typically tax exempt
- muni’s are also rated for default risk
Loan Sales
- structures lending facilities in a way so that short term loans can be sold to banks and investors
Private Placement
- direct sales of long term notes to institutional investors (e.g. insurance companies and hedge funds)
Foreign Currency Services
(1) foreign currency payments: send / receive cross border foreign currency payments from an account denomincated in the firm’s operating currency
(2) foreign currency accounts: deposit balances are held in a currency other than that o fthe country of origin; most often available int he major int’l currencies (CAD, USD, GBP, EUR, JPY)
(3) multicurrency accounts: one account that can send / receive payments in several currencies; the bank typically operatea series of virtual accounts to manage each currency; attractive cash mgmt tool for small businesses
(4) foreign currency transaction services: buy / sell internationally traded currencies for immedate use (spot) or future use (forward)”
Investment Bank
- provide a wide range of services related to issuing and tradingn securities including:
(1) securities underwriting
(2) custodial services
(3) facilitate mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and other corporate re-orgs
(4) act as a broker / financial advisor for institutional clients
Industrial Bank
- are FI’s with a very limited scope
- sell certificates called investment shares and can accetp deposits (but no checking accounts)
- lend deposits out via installment loans to consumers and small businesses
- due to limited scope / services, industrial banks do not fall under general banking regulatory authority
- locally chartered and ay be owned by nonbank holdco’s
- e.g. auto mfg co may establish an industrial loan company to facilitate consumer sales
Universal Bank
- offer both IB and CB services
- IB services have to be offered through the IB arm of a CB holding company
Central Bank
- provides banking services to the govt and banking sector
- responsible for issuing currency and implementing govt’s monetary policyx
- some may also be responsible for supervising commercial banks and the country’s payment systems
Central Bank Functions
(1) implement monetary policy: via reserve requirement ratio (2) open market operations and (3) official interest rate
(2) issue currency: provide currency to Fis in exchange for govt bonds
(3) supervise / regulate commercial banks
(4) govt services: provide financial services to the govt including: basic deposit and safekeeping and sale / redemption of govt securities
(5) depository insitution services: provide services to FI’s including:
(a) operating clearing and settlement systems
(b) provide coin and currency
(c) hold reserve balances
(d) may act as lender of last resort e.g. provide loans to Fis that are unable to raise funds in the interbank market
Seigniorage
- Income from issuing currency (difference between face value and cost to produce)
- is used to fund central bank operations or remitted to the govt
Monetary Policy
- management of money supply and interest rates to target inflcation and therefore economic growth
- primary tools to implement monetary policy are:
(1) interest rate: rate used for lending to FI’s (aka discount rate in the US); increase in rate increase interest rate charged for loans ; demand for loans decreases
(2) reserve requirements: minimum artio of deposits a bank must keep on hand; increase in reserve reduces bank ability to make loans which directly decreases the money supply
(3) open market operations: purchase / sale of govt securities; buying bonds increases bond price which lowers interest rates
Export Credit Agency (ECA)
- provides financing and insurance products to support the exporting of good, especially into emerging markets
- can be govt-owned or private institutions that act as intermediaries between the govt and the exporting companies
Primary role of bank regulators
- monitor credit and liquidity risks that could cause potential bank failures
- implement safeguards to reduce risk of system failure
Two Stages in Bank Supervisory Regime
(1) initial chartering
(2) ongoing supervision and surveillance of chartered (licensed) banks
Bank Chartering / Licensing
- the process of establishing or opening banks / depository institutions and provides guidelines to types of financial services the FI is allowed to offer
- charter regulations specify amount of capital required to open a bank and may specify limits on ownership by foreign entities
What do regulators require / evaluate for bank monitoring and supervision?
(1) On site examinations and require accounting statements and financial reports for off-site evaluation
(2) Perform stress tests to assess robustness of bank’s balance sheet which includes:
(a) Capital and Liquidity Requirements
(b) Minimum Asset Quality Requirements
(3) Bank’s net interest margin
Capital and Liquidty Requirements
- minimum capital requirements: determines how much captial (equity funds) owners of a bank must contribute to the business
- calculated as a ratio fo bank’s captial to at risk assets (aka loans and other investments)
- the higher the ratio the lower the bank’s risk
- many regulators use tiered capital to differentiate the risks of banks with identical capital to asset ratios
- common equity is the first tier (most stable) and preferred stock and long term debt is the second tier (less stable)
Minimum Asset Quality Requirements
- ensure proper investment policies and diversification
- ensure that banks make loans that are properly priced for default risk
- may place restrictions on how much can be loaned or invested in a particular company or industry sector (impairment of capital rules)
- rationale is to limit the chances of the failure of one large company and the resulting default on its loans from leading to a bank failure
Bank’s Net Interest Margin
- difference between interest rate bank lends at and the interest rate that bank pays to depositors
- is one of the primary sources for earnings for a bank
- this results in default risk (borrower does not repay loan) and liquidity risk (depositors withdraw deposits with little notice)