B) The Nature of Banking

The nature... banks can best be understood... examining both their long-established functions and new emerging roles. The former include the provision of payment services and intermediation services. The latter include the merging... investment and commercial banking activities. The banking firm is recognized as a major force... the financial markets. As intermediaries they collect the deposits of the household sector, held... the form of demand and savings deposits, and recycle them... real investment capital. They perform maturity transformation – lending long and borrowing short. Banks provide the real sector... funds, the major source of financing for the industrial sector. Besides, banks are viewed now as evaluators of investment opportunities available... both the primary and secondary markets. The bank's role is to screen potential projects, to determine expected return and risk... the not-always-objective data presented... the demanders of funds.

What differentiates banks from other financial intermediaries? First, banks issue liabilities that are media of exchange in that the transactions velocities of chequable deposits tend to be much higher than the transactions velocities of other assets. Second, banks differ... other financial intermediaries with regard... the nature of the assets they hold. While most of the assets held... mutual funds are publicly traded, bank assets tend not to be traded... securities markets.

Words you may need:

nature n природа, характер

emerge v появляться, возникать

the former/the latter первый/ последний (из двух)

Savings deposit сберегательный вклад

to lend long предоставлять долгосрочные ссуды

to borrow short получать краткосрочные ссуды

real sector реальный сектор

evaluator n оценщик

screen v сортировать, проводить проверку

expected return расчетная (ожидаемая) доходность

to issue liabilities выдавать долговые обязательства

media of exchange средства обмена

velocity n скорость

chequable deposit депозит, который может изыматься с помощью чеков

publicly traded продаваемые и покупаемые на фондовой бирже