The biggest banks have become complex financial organizations in the industrial world that provide a wide range of services to international markets and they control billions of dollars in assets and cash at the beginning of the 21st century. Banks are supported by the latest technology, and banks are working to determine new business niches, to implement innovative strategies and to develop customized services to capture new market opportunities.
Though the banking industry does not perform in the same manner over the world, most of the bankers think about corporate clients in terms of the following:
Commercial banking – Cash management like payroll services, bank reconcilement and credit services like lines of credit, asset-based financing, commercial loans. And deposit services like checking or savings account services and foreign exchange, these services are covered by commercial banking.
Investment banking – Asset securitization, coverage mergers, corporate restructuring to securities underwriting, acquisitions, equity private placements, these services are covered by investment banking.
Because of the deregulation of the financial sector from the past decade there has been an increasing convergence between the activities of commercial banks and investment banks. Today some commercial and investment banking institutions compete in money market operations, project finance, private placements, financial advisory work and bonds underwriting.
The modern banking industry has held greater business diversification, some banks are entering into investment, portfolio management, underwriting of securities and insurance business in the industrialized world. Banks have been made an even more significant entity by these changes in the global business community.