What is a bank? A bank is a bussiness that is specialized in financial products. Traditional financial products/services that the bank specializes in are: - receiving deposites of money - lending money - processing transactions. When you lend the bank money, you'll receive extra provits in the form of interest. When you receive money from the bank, you'll need to repay the money later, with some interest for the bank. When a bank handles your transactions, they most times ask a small amount of money for this operation. Why do people use/need banks? People put there money on the bank to have more safety. Without putting it on the bank, it could be stolen or burned when your house burns down. How do banks make profit? Banks invest the money you'll put on your bankaccount, that's why you'll get some interest on your money. With all the banks, you'll need to pay more interest when receiving money, than when you put the same money on your bank-account. In this way the bank receives a bit of the money, by which they can make their offices and send you the information you'll need. Electronic money When you open an account by a bank, you most times get a card, with this magnetic card you can pay in stores. You''ll pay with the money on your bank account and transfer it to the bank account of the store. This way you'll never even see the money for real, so its real safe! Because everything is handled with computers, we call this type of money electronic money. How do I open a bank account? It's really easy to open a bank account, the only thing you'll need to do is step into a bankoffice and they will take care of it! Or you can try it on internet, where some banks can help you open a bankaccount. But a bank needs you signature, so you need to do this via postal services. Which are the main banks? Citigroup JPMorgan Chase Bank of America HSBC Mitshubishi UFJ Financial Group Credit agricol Group Royal Bank of Scotland Group BNP Paribas Banco Santander Central Hispano Mizuho Financial Group.