Banks can be described as the financial intermediary, amidst the borrowers and depositors and provides banking services to the customers. Commercial bank is a bank that is formed for the commercial purpose and hence its primary aim to earn profit from the banking business. On the other hand, cooperative banks are owned and operated by the members for a common purpose i.e. to provide financial service to agriculturists and small businessmen. It relies on the on the principles of cooperation, … [Read more...]

Bank Rate and Repo Rate are the tools of RBI, which helps to control the money supply in the economy. They are the lending rates, at which the apex bank of the country lends funds to the commercial bank. The bank rate refers to the standard rate, at which the Central Bank of India readily purchases or rediscounts bills of exchange and other commercial paper, that are eligible for purchase under the act. Conversely, when the economic system of the country encounters liquidity shortages and the … [Read more...]

Credit union refers to financial cooperative, which is a non-profit entity. It allows its members to borrow money from pooled funds, at cheap interest rates. Many times they are juxtaposed with a bank, but they are not one and the same thing. A bank can be described as a financial institution that provides banking services to the customers, such as accepting deposits, extending credit, safeguarding valuables and providing allied services. The credit union is a member-owned organisation, which … [Read more...]

Based on the work performed by the banks, the financial industry is bifurcated into two major segments i.e. investment bank and commercial bank. Commercial banks is set up for the purpose of concluding commercial transactions, such as legally take deposits and lend money to the customers like individuals and corporates. On the other hand, investment banks are established to offer services to investors. The operations of investment banks is different, and acts as an intermediary between buyers … [Read more...]

Charge Card and Credit Card are the two types of cards, which are commonly juxtaposted by the people, as both are payment methods, through which one can make easy payments. Charge card is a form of credit card, which expects the customer to pay the entire balance, at the end of the billing cycle. It is not a revolving credit instrument. On the contrary, a credit card allows the user for revolving balances after minimum payment is made. While a credit card has certain pre-defined spending … [Read more...]

Non-Resident Indian (NRI) is an Indian national who, for the time being, leaves India for the purpose of employment, education and similar other reason. Persons with such residential status suffer from a dilemma that when they need to open an NRI account in India. NRE account and NRO account two types of NRI account which differ in the sense that the former is an external rupee account while the latter is an ordinary rupee account. NRI's are allowed to open NRO account so as to receive funds … [Read more...]

There are end number of transactions occur in the normal course of business, where in receipt or payment is made in cash or cheque. To record these transactions the entity uses cash book and contains all the details of the receipts and disbursements that are recorded chronologically. Many times cash book is juxtaposed with Passbook, but there is a slight difference in the two. Passbook is a book issued by the bank to the account holder which records the amount deposited in/withdrawn from the … [Read more...]

SWIFT stands for Society for Worldwide Inter-bank Financial Telecommunication, which is a cooperative non-profit organization, fully owned by its member banks. SWIFT code is used when the transfer between two banks happens internationally. It is an electronic message transfer system, that conveys messages in a pre-defined format, anywhere in the world as and when the transaction occurs. On the other hand, IFSC code is used when the fund transfers between banks take place within the … [Read more...]

There are end number of facilities provided by the banks to its customers, apart from the basic lending of money and accepting deposits. Direct Debit and Standing Order are two such facilities, which the customers can avail, in order to ease their monetary transactions. The former implies a facility, in which the payee is authorized to draw the amount due for payment from the account of the payer, while the latter denotes an instruction given to the bank by the customer to pay/transfer certain … [Read more...]

With the advancement of technology, digital money transfer system is gaining popularity because of its speed, simplicity, safety, and convenience. Funds can be transferred electronically from one bank/account/place/branch to another through this system. Moreover, the system enables instant account update and gives quick information about the foreign exchange rates. In India, NEFT and RTGS are the two electronic media which effects fund transfer. While the former is used to handle smaller size … [Read more...]