the.com/bank
a place that lends your money to strangers, then charges you to keep it
means An institution that holds, lends, and safeguards money, or the physical building where it does so.
from From the Italian 'banca,' meaning a bench or counter — the very table where medieval moneylenders in Italy sat to do their trade. The same word gives us 'bankrupt': when a lender failed, his bench was literally broken — 'banca rotta' — to signal he was out of business.
- oldest
- Italy's Monte dei Paschi has run since 1472
- river origin
- named for benches money-changers used along riverbanks
- fractional reserve
- banks lend out most deposits they hold
- vault doors
- can weigh over 20 tons yet swing easily
- blood bank
- same word stores plasma, not paychecks
central bank of brazil — brazil's monetary authority that sets interest rates and manages the real currency
world bank — international financial institution founded in 1944 that provides loans to developing countries
left bank paris — the latin quarter neighborhood on the seine's left bank in paris, france
riverbank state park — 95-acre park along the hudson river in manhattan, new york city