Retail banking refers to banking in which banking institutions execute transactions directly with consumers, rather than corporations or other banks. Services offered include: savings and checking accounts, mortgages, personal loans, debit cards, credit cards, and so forth.

Types of banking

• Commercial bank has two meanings:
• Commercial bank is the term used for a normal bank to distinguish it from an investment bank. (After the great depression, the U.S. Congress required that banks only engage in banking activities, whereas investment banks were limited to capital markets activities. This separation is no longer mandatory.)
• Commercial bank can also refer to a bank or a division of a bank that mostly deals with deposits and loans from corporations or large businesses, as opposed to normal individual members of the public (retail banking). It is the most successful department of banking.
• Community development bank are regulated banks that provide financial services and credit to underserved markets or populations.
• Private banks manage the assets of high net worth individuals.
• Offshore banks are banks located in jurisdictions with low taxation and regulation. Many offshore banks are essentially private banks.
• Savings banks accept savings deposits.
• Postal savings banks are savings banks associated with national postal systems.

The physical business model of Retail Banking, that started around late eighties and early nineties, by the regular banks as small community banks that are accessible to their customers in or close to their neighborhoods. This new "physical model" followed the approach most of the fast food chains we engaging in.

During the year 1989, a student Sanjeev "Sunny" Mishra, at Bradley University wrote a paper on Retail Banking for his graduate course work taught by Dr. Aaron Buchko.

In that paper, he simply created the physical model for Retail Banks and defined them as small neighborhood bank branches that were staffed with minimal staff to carry out the basic banking functions similar to a community banks. He defined this new model, the costs associated with it and the justifications for the various banking operations that these retail branches need to perform in order to remain profitable and to be able to add value to their parent commercial or community banks.

See also

• Banking institution
• Bank
• Banking in the United States

References

• Tiwari, Rajnish and Buse, Stephan (2006): The German Banking Sector: Competition, Consolidation and Contentment, Hamburg University of Technology (TU Hamburg-Harburg)
• Brunner, A., Decressin, J. / Hardy, D. / Kudela, B. (2004): Germany's Three-Pillar Banking System – Cross-Country Perspectives in Europe, Occasional Paper, International Monetary Fund, Washington DC 2004.
• Retail Banker International - news, data, analysis and business information for the retail banking industry: Retailbankerinternational.com