Banking

The activities undertaken by banks; this includes personal banking (non-business customers). commercial banking (small and medium-sized busi­ ness customers). and corporate banking (large international and multinational corporations). In the USA there are many restrictions on banks opening branches across the nation, notably the Glass­ Steagal Act (1933). Consequently, unit banking is mainly undertaken through separate enterprises, although the restric­tions have been breached on several occa­sions and there are now many super-regional banks in the USA, operat­ ing in a similar way to UK _branches. In the UK most banking for both business and personal customers is undertaken through the High-Street banks, which is also known as branch banking (see also COMMERCIAL BANK).