BANK OPERATIONS
Banking transactions, subject to the banking monopoly when they are carried out on a regular basis, are defined by article L 311-1 of the Monetary and Financial Code.
Banking operations include receiving funds from the public, credit operations, as well as making available to customers or managing means of payment.
Banking services include in particular the following
- deposits and withdrawals of funds
- the bank provides a deposit service. the deposit is a loan to the bank which immediately uses the cash received to finance its activity. In the event of bankruptcy, deposits are lost subject to guarantees provided by the State.
- in France, sight deposits are free
- cash payments and check remittances for collection
- supply on request of cash , central bank notes and coins.
- means of payment: the bank allows you to mobilize your deposit account in several ways:
- the bank provides check forms and ensures their payment through the clearing system .
- the bank provides payment cards
- the bank provides cards to pay by electronic money
- execution on the instructions of the account holder of transfers to other bank accounts.
The bank must provide an accounting of the movements of funds.
The bank also provides the following services
- provision of travelers’ checks ( travelers checks )
- supply of cashier’s checks for certain secure transactions.
- provision of foreign currency.
- transfers of funds abroad accepted in other banks.
The vast majority of these operations are chargeable. The State, by imposing, for example, the payment of wages by transfer to bank accounts, made the use of bank services compulsory.
Banks have developed in particular over the past thirty years a very tight network of branches to provide these services to individuals.
The tendency is to have the majority of operations carried out no longer by counter clerks but by the user himself. Very often the traditional cash register disappears and many banks no longer provide banknotes at their counters. Cash withdrawals are made from automatic teller machines (ATMs) or cash machines. They involve the provision of a paying bank card, allowing a double gain (card costs and staff savings). Even the provision of account statements is now self-service in some banks
The surge of the Internet has allowed the development of direct banking, the establishment of banks without branches but also the referral to the Internet user, via secure procedures, of most operations relating to the functioning of the checking account: consultation of the position and movements, transfers, request for check books etc. The Internet services being here also generally paying the bank wins twice: saving of personnel and invoicing of expenses.
In France, checks have long been free, as an implicit compensation for the non-remuneration of sight deposits.
