A commercial institution licensed as a taker of deposits. Banks are concerned mainly with making and receiving payments on behalf of their customers, accepting deposits, and making short term loans to private individuals, companies, and other organizations. In the UK, the banking system comprises the *Bank of England (the central bank), the * commercial banks, *merchant banks,
branches of foreign and Commonwealth banks, the *National Savings Bank, and the National Girobank (see GIKO). The first (1990) *building. society to become a bank in the UK was the Abbey National, after its public *flotation; many other building societies have now followed this prece dent. In other countries, banks are also usually supervised by a government-con trolled central bank.