The term
national bank has several meanings:
- an ordinary private bank which operates nationally (as opposed to regionally or locally or even internationally)
- in the United States, an ordinary private bank operating within a specific regulatory structure, which may or may not operate nationally.
In the past, the term "national bank" has been used synonymously with "
central bank", but it is no longer used in this sense today. Some central banks may have the words "National Bank" in their name; conversely if a bank is named in this way, it is not automatically considered a
central bank. For example,
National-Bank AG in Essen, Germany is a privately owned commercial bank, just like
National Bank of Canada of Montreal, Canada. On the other side,
National Bank of Ethiopia is the
central bank of
Ethiopia and
National Bank of Cambodia is the
central bank of
Cambodia.
Afghanistan
Pashtany Bank is the government-owned bank in based in
Kabul, Afghanistan that controls
Ariana Afghan Airlines as well as the Afghan National Bank.
Australia
The
Commonwealth Bank of Australia was founded by an
Australian
Act of Parliament in 1911. Bank
Nationalisation was the policy of the
Andrew Fisher Labor Government. In a rare move for the time, the bank was to have both savings and general bank business. The bank was also the first bank in Australia to receive a Federal Government guarantee.
In 1958 and 1959, there was a controversy concerning the dual function of the bank as the central bank on the one hand and a general bank on the other. As a result of this, the bank was split, giving the reserve bank function to the
Reserve Bank of Australia and the general bank function to the Commonwealth Banking Corporation.
The Commonwealth bank was
privatised in the 1990s by the
Keating Labor government. At present it is the second largest bank in Australia, after the
National Australia Bank which has always been privately owned.
Canada
For
Canada's central bank see
Bank of Canada. The
National Bank of Canada is a privately owned bank unrelated to the central bank.
Colombia
The national bank in
Colombia is the
Bank of the Republic. Its primary role is to control the flow of money inside and outside the country and to issue the Colombian currency, the
peso.
India
The (NABARD) was established on
12 July 1982 to implement the
National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Act 1981.
It replaced the Agricultural Credit Department (ACD) and Rural Planning and Credit Cell (RPCC) of the
Reserve Bank of India, and the
Agricultural Refinance and Development Corporation (ARDC).
Activities
- 1. serving as an apex financing agency for the institutions providing investment and production credit for promoting the various developmental activities in rural areas;
- 2. taking measures towards institution building for improving absorptive capacity of the credit delivery system, including monitoring, formulation of rehabilitation schemes, restructuring of credit institutions, training of personnel, etc.;
- 3. co-ordinating the rural financing activities of all institutions engaged in developmental work at the field level and maintains liaison with Government of India, State Governments, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and other national level institutions concerned with policy formulation; and
- 4. undertaking monitoring and evaluation of projects refinanced by it.
NABARD’s refinance is available to State Co-operative Agriculture and Rural Development Banks (SCARDBs), State Co-operative Banks (SCBs), Regional Rural Banks (RRBs), Commercial Banks (CBs) and other financial institutions approved by RBI.
While the ultimate beneficiaries of investment credit can be individuals, partnership concerns, companies, State-owned corporations or co-operative societies, production credit is generally given to individuals.
NABARD operates throughout the country through its 28 Regional Offices and one Sub-office, located in the capitals of all the states/union territories. It has 336 District Offices across the country, one Sub-office at Port Blair and one special Cell at Srinagar. It also has 6 training establishments.
New Zealand
State-owned banks
New Zealand currently has one
state-owned bank,
Kiwibank.
The New Zealand government formerly owned two other banks in New Zealand: The
Bank of New Zealand, from 1945 to 1992 when it was privatised and sold, and
Post Office Savings Bank, which was created as a separate entity with the privatisation of
New Zealand Post.
PostBank was sold to
ANZ New Zealand in 1989.
National Bank of New Zealand
The
National Bank of New Zealand is a private bank corporation which has been purchased by
ANZ 2003 from its former owner,
Lloyds TSB.
Pakistan
National Bank of Pakistan is a major bank in
Pakistan.
Serbia
National Bank of Serbia is the state-owned central bank in
Serbia which regulates the currency
Serbian dinar.
United States
In the United States, the term "national bank" originally referred to the
revolutionary era
Bank of North America, later,
First Bank of the United States, or its successor the
Second Bank of the United States. All are now defunct.
In the modern U.S. the term "national bank" has a precise meaning: a banking institution chartered by the
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ("OCC"), an agency in the
U.S. Treasury Department, pursuant to the
National Bank Act. The inclusion of the word "National" in the bank's name or the designation "National Association" or its abbreviation "N.A." is a required part of the distinguishing legal title of a national bank, as in "
Citibank, N.A." Many "
state banks", by contrast, are chartered by the applicable state government (usually the state's department of banking). The
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), insures all deposits may it be into a national bank or state bank.
Notwithstanding the name, not all "national banks" have nationwide operations. Some "national banks" have operations in only one city, or county or state. "National banks" should also be distinguished from federal savings associations (which include federal
savings and loans, and federal
savings banks), which are financial institutions chartered by the
Office of Thrift Supervision, another agency in the U.S. Treasury Department. The
Federal Reserve is the United States central bank.
