The Principles of Banking, 2nd Edition

PART IBanking, Bank Customer Business and Regulation

Part I of the book is the primer on banking. It is intended for both newcomers to the topic, be they students or practitioners, as well as experienced practitioners who require a refresher and update on the subject. This is needed more often than one might think!

It is essential to be familiar with the nature of banking business, and the products offered to customers, as well as the construct of the markets and the requirements of banking regulation. The banking industry is very heavily regulated, to a quite prescriptive degree, and satisfactory compliance with bank regulation is an important part of every banker's “day job”, irrespective of the department they work in.

We also need to be familiar with banking capital and financial statements, the former preparatory to a discussion on regulatory capital and the Basel rules, all essential general knowledge purposes. So the first part of this book covers these areas.

The remainder of Part I looks at customer relations, followed by international regulatory capital and liquidity rules. The latter are known as the “Basel” rules, although strictly speaking they are “guidelines” rather than “rules”. After that we are set up to get into the detail.