Discuss (c) BAFIA classes

The meaning: the bank = the financial intermediary — the depositor's money received (the repayable deposits) and the borrower's needs financed (the loans-and-advances): the "borrowing to lend" institution (the classical definition's craft: the bank borrows to lend — the intermediary's essence; the interest's spread the business's margin). The origin: the goldsmiths' bench (the medieval London story: the depositors' gold kept, the receipts circulated — the banknote's birth, the fractional-reserve's discovery); the Italian lineage (the banco — the money-changer's bench; the Renaissance merchant banks); the modern era (the joint-stock banks, the central banks, the universal banking). The need (the functions' list): the payment system (the money's transfer- and-settlement — the economy's circulation); the intermediation (the savings pooled to the investment); the maturity transformation (the short deposits to the long loans); the risk's transformation (the diversification, the credit's assessment); the money creation (the credit's multiplier); the information (the borrowers' monitoring — the delegated-watchdog craft).