What is a Consumer Bank?
A consumer bank is any bank that accepts deposits, offers services like making private loans to individuals, and allows you person-to-person contact at a specific location, called a branch. Essentially any bank you walk into to deposit your paycheck is a consumer bank. The term refers to the fact that the bank has a physical location or branch, and to the fact that it serves individual customers. Serving individuals instead of businesses can also be called retail banking. The consumer bank is actually a relatively new phenomenon in the history of banking. Most banks were initially built to serve businesses and countries. They weren’t examples of a consumer bank, since they didn’t normally provide services to individuals, unless you were extremely wealthy and your deposits financed some aspects of the bank’s business…
A consumer bank is any bank that accepts deposits, offers services like making private loans to individuals, and allows you person-to-person contact at a specific location, called a branch. Essentially any bank you walk into to deposit your paycheck is a consumer bank. The term refers to the fact that the bank has a physical location or branch, and to the fact that it serves individual customers. Serving individuals instead of businesses can also be called retail banking. The consumer bank is actually a relatively new phenomenon in the history of banking. Most banks were initially built to serve businesses and countries. They weren’t examples of a consumer bank, since they didn’t normally provide services to individuals, unless you were extremely wealthy and your deposits financed some aspects of the bank’s business endeavors. It wasn’t until about the mid 1800s that banks started seeing the value of offering accounts and safe depositing places for the average person. Private individua