English Unlimited HAK/HUM 4/5, Schulbuch mit Audio-CD und CD-ROM (mit Handelskorrespondenz)

62 It’s an online world 05 LANGUAGE SKILLS EXPLORE EXTRAS Commercial Banking High street banks consist of branches and provide a number of services for which the customer pays bank charges. Among the services offered are various accounts like current accounts or savings accounts, which, in contrast to the former, are interest bearing . Once a bank customer has opened an account, it can be used for paying in as well as for taking out money. The account holder can receive and make payments either in cash, by credit transfer or direct debit. The most convenient form of payment for regular sums that stay the same (e.g. rent) is to place a standing order; if the amount that needs to be paid varies (e.g. telephone bill), a direct debit arrangement is more practical. Bank statements, which can be sent by post or printed out by the account holders themselves, inform about daily transactions and the balance. If an account is overdrawn (and most banks in Austria offer overdraft facilities), the account holder pays a comparatively high interest rate on the outstanding amount (in contrast to interest rates on savings and loans, which are usually somewhat lower). Should a bank customer need to borrow a larger sum of money, say for buying a car, a house or a flat (home loan or mortgage), they need to take out a loan , which has to be paid back in instalments within a certain time period plus interest. Interest rates are initiated by the ECB, the European Central Bank, for the EU and the Fed (Federal Reserve) for the USA. They can rise or fall for economic reasons or be increased or lowered for political reasons. Plastic money, which originated in the US but quickly gained ground in Europe too, comes in the form of cash cards (used for cashless payments or for withdrawing money from a cash machine outside bank Info point: Banks and banking services Talk together. What types of banks do you know? What are the differences between them? Read the information below to check your ideas. 22 a b Identify the currency symbols on the right. Do you know the current exchange rates of these currencies? Which other currencies do you know? Read the extract from an article about commercial banks and their services. In small groups, answer these questions. 1 Which banking services mentioned in the extract have you used? Which of these do you use regularly? 2 How has the work of banks and bankers changed in recent years? Try to explain why. 3 Have you heard of the ECB and the Fed? What is their function? c a 23 b Clearing banks or commercial banks (in the UK also called ‘High street banks’ or ‘the Big Four’ – Lloyds, RBS, Barclays, HSBC) deal with private customers ; core functions of these retail banks are making and receiving payments as well as commercial lending. Investment banks buy and sell large quantities of shares ; they help float a company and calculate and sell IPOs.* Famous names are Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, City Group and Goldman Sachs. *initial public offering: an occasion when shares in a company are first sold to the public Merchant banks deal with ‘big’ or major customers as they offer financial services to companies rather than private individuals. Apart from providing loans for corporate or business customers, they carry out credit ratings to establish the credit worthiness of (foreign) companies. Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv