turn and bank indicator, aircraft instrument containing one indicator to show turning, or rotation about the vertical axis, and another to show banking, or rotation about the longitudinal axis. The two indicators are essentially separate instruments, but they are customarily placed together. The bank indicator is the simpler of the two and consists of a curved glass tube filled with a damping liquid in which a small steel ball rolls. When the craft is horizontal, the ball is located in the lowest part of the tube; as the craft banks, gravity holds the ball at the lowest point as the tube rotates from side to side. The tube can be calibrated to show the angle of banking. The turn indicator contains a gyroscope that develops a torque when the craft rotates. This torque controls a pointer that indicates to the pilot in degrees per unit of time the rate at which the craft is turning.

savings bank, financial institution that, until recently, performed only the following functions: receiving savings deposits of individuals, investing them, and providing a modest return to its depositors in the form of interest. A common form of savings bank, the mutual savings bank, was traditionally the only type that accepted savings deposits exclusively (see banking). Mutual savings banks are state-chartered institutions, owned by their depositors and managed for their mutual benefit by self-perpetuating boards of trustees. Savings deposits may also be received by a credit union or a savings and loan association. However, due to extensive deregulation in the banking industry (primarily during the 1980s), the distinction between savings banks and other financial institutions has become increasingly hazy. Federal deregulation laws in the 1980s gave savings banks the opportunity to become federally chartered institutions, to convert themselves into capital stock corporations, and to come under the supervision of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board. New lending powers, the removal of ceilings on interest rates, and takeovers of struggling small banks by larger ones have made the mutual savings bank, as it was understood until about 1980, largely obsolete.

national bank, in the United States, financial institution of a class authorized by Congress in acts of 1863 and 1864. The acts were intended to provide a way of marketing the large bond issues made necessary by the Civil War and to give circulation to a paper currency more trustworthy than the notes of state banks had proved to be. The act of 1864 authorized the formation of private banking corporations that were to invest a large part of their capital in bonds of the United States and that might then issue their notes as currency. The amount of the notes was not to exceed 90% of either the face value or the par value of the bonds, depending on which of the two was smaller. Subsequent acts modified the act of 1864 in various details, and the plan was changed fundamentally by the Federal Reserve Act of Dec. 23, 1913, which provided for the gradual substitution of Federal Reserve notes and Federal Reserve bank notes for national bank notes. The Federal Reserve Act also required all national banks to become members of the Federal Reserve System.

eye bank, site for the collection, processing, and assignment of donated eyes. A donor's eyes are removed as soon as possible after death, sealed in a sterile container, and sent to the eye bank. There they are microscopically examined for corneal damage and then shipped to surgeons who have requested them. The intact eyes, if kept at a temperature of 4°C;, may be preserved up to 48 hours. Subsequently, the corneas (the clear coverings of the eye) can be removed, preserved in glycerin, and stored at room temperature for six to eight months. Corneal transplants may restore vision to persons whose own corneas have become scarred through illness or injury. If free of bacteria, the vitreous humor, the fluid filling at the back of the eye, can be refrigerated and kept up to six months; it is used in the treatment of detached retina. The first eye bank in the United States, Eye-Bank for Sight Restoration, Inc., was founded in New York City in 1945.

central bank, financial institution designed to regulate and control the money supply of a nation, with the goal of fostering economic growth without inflation. Although central banking systems have varying levels of autonomy, there is generally a significant level of government control. The responsibilities of the central bank usually include maintaining adequate reserve backing for the nation's commercial banks and regulating the exchange rate of the nation's currency. Such duties are met by controlling the discount rate, making reserve advances to commercial banks, trading in government obligations, and acting as the government's fiduciary agent in its dealings with other governments and other central banks. The central bank has been called the "lender of last resort" and is expected to lend to its nation's banks at any time, particularly during a panic. Although the term was hardly known before 1900, the concept of central banking dates back to at least 1694, when the Bank of England was founded. Today, all economically developed nations—and most developing nations—possess the equivalent of a central bank; there are 172 central banks around the world. Notable central banks include France's Banque de France, Germany's Bundesbank, and the U.S. Federal Reserve System (est. 1913). The Bank for International Settlements in Switzerland serves as a central bank for the central banks of the world's largest capitalist nations. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund also serve certain central banking functions for member nations. The European Union established the European Central Bank in 1998 as a prelude to the adoption of the euro (see European Monetary System). In the United States, the inflation crisis of the late 1970s led to greater public awareness of the role of the Federal Reserve in setting interest rates; reaction to its decisions (and expected decisions) concerning interest rates often produces sharp movements in the stock and bond markets.

blood bank, site or mobile unit for collecting, processing, typing, and storing whole blood, blood plasma and other blood constituents. Most hospitals maintain their own blood reserves, and the American Red Cross provides a nationwide collection and distribution service. The Red Cross collects about 50% of the blood for the nation's blood banks. The Food and Drug Administration licenses blood banks.

Whole blood may be preserved for up to 21 days without losing its usefulness in blood transfusions; an anticoagulant is added to prevent clotting. Blood plasma, the fluid portion of the blood, may be frozen and/or dried and stored indefinitely. Blood and donors are screened for hepatitis, AIDS, malaria, and other infectious diseases. The potential risk of acquiring AIDS or hepatitis through transfusions has made it a common practice among patients anticipating surgery to "bank" their own blood before it is needed.

Many blood banks also have facilities for apheresis, bone marrow donations, and related procedures. Some centers save umbilical cord blood (blood that is especially rich in stem cells) for use in treatments; however, the cost of preparing and storing such blood is much higher than that of normal blood. Sometimes parents store their newborn's cord blood at a private cord blood bank in case the child has need of it, but the use of one own's cord blood is ineffective or undesirable in many diseases where such blood is used as a treatment.

bank holidays, days when the law requires that banks be closed. In the United States the list varies from state to state but generally includes, besides the major holidays, many days that are observed only by the banks and such government institutions as post offices. In England since 1871, bank holidays have had special significance as secular and perpetual holidays. The days include Christmas, Boxing Day (the first weekday after Christmas), Good Friday, Easter Monday, Whitmonday (the day after Pentecost), and the special banking day on the first Monday in August.

World Bank: see International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

West Bank, territory, formerly part of Palestine, after 1949 administered by Jordan, since 1967 largely occupied by Israel (2005 est. pop. 2,386,000), 2,165 sq mi (5,607 sq km), west of the Jordan River, incorporating the northwest quadrant of the Dead Sea. Since mid-1994 limited Palestinian self-rule has existed in portions of the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority. Israelis who regard the area as properly Jewish territory often refer to it by the biblical names of Judaea and Samaria. The largest and most historically important cities are Hebron, Nablus, Bethlehem, and Jericho. East Jerusalem is regarded as part of the West Bank by Arabs; however, Israel has incorporated it into the larger Jerusalem economy and municipality.

People and Economy

The population of the West Bank is composed primarily of Muslim Palestinian Arabs, many of whom live in large, impoverished refugee camps. In addition, about 240,000 Jewish Israelis live in government-subsidized settlements throughout the West Bank. The land in the N West Bank is fertile, and olives, fruit, and citrus products are produced. Family businesses and small-scale industries manufacture such goods as architectural limestone, cement, and textiles, although investment capital is paltry. The area is also dependent on work in Israel proper for employment. Real economic development has been stagnated by a lack of resources and often set back by the Arab-Israeli violence arising out of the occupation and in response to Palestinian attacks in Israel.

History

The West Bank was declared part of Jordanian territory after Israel and Jordan signed armistice agreements in 1949. After the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, the area remained under Israeli occupation. Conflicts with Arab residents there grew in the late 1970s as Israeli Jewish settlers, encouraged by the Begin administration, began a series of large-scale housing developments. Although the Camp David accords (1978) incorporated plans for Arab self-rule in the West Bank, this goal remained elusive.

Israel's incursion into Lebanon in 1982 to destroy Palestinian armed bases exacerbated rioting and political turmoil in the West Bank. Israel responded with military curfews and increased Israeli troop presence. The development of the Intifada (Palestinian uprising), which began in the Gaza Strip in 1987, embroiled the West Bank in outbreaks of stone-throwing, protests, and violent attacks and led to Israeli reprisals, resulting in hundreds of Palestinian deaths, property damage, high unemployment, and reduced living standards. The 1991 Persian Gulf War created further economic hardship as Palestinian workers returned en masse from the war zone.

Rioting and clashes with Israeli troops continued into the 1990s. An accord between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), reached in 1993 after secret negotiations, led to the establishment of the Palestianian Authority and limited self-rule in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in mid-1994. Agreements providing for a transfer of control to Palestinians in the West Bank town of Jericho and the Gaza Strip, and then in the other West Bank cities and towns (except East Jerusalem), were finalized in 1994 and 1995 and largely implemented by early 1996. In Mar., 1996, Israel sealed off many towns in the West Bank following a series of suicide bombings inside Israel. Most of Hebron was handed over to the Palestinians in 1997 and, in a 1998 accord, Israel agreed to withdraw from additional West Bank territory. Although progress was slow, this was accomplished by Mar., 2000. Any chance of further progress was stymied by a new cycle of violence that began in the fall after Ariel Sharon visited the Haram esh-Sherif (or Temple Mount) in Jerusalem.

Israel's construction of a security barrier in the West Bank became an international issue in 2003. It was begun in 2002 in the N West Bank, where it paralleled the border, and around Jerusalem, but its planned extension south and into the West Bank to protect Israeli settlements brought widespread condemnation because of West Bank territory it would enclosed and the many Palestinians whose lives would be disrupted. An International Court of Justice opinion (2004), requested by the UN General Assembly, termed barrier illegal, in part because it encloses Palestinian territory. An Israeli court decision separately ordered the wall partially rerouted because of the hardship it would cause.

Mahmoud Abbas was elected president in 2005 after Arafat's death. He and Israeli Prime Minister Sharon subsequently agreed to a truce, and in Mar., 2005, Israeli forces began handing over control of Jericho and other West Bank towns to the Palestinian Authority. Subsequent violence, however, halted and reversed the process. A few Israeli settlements in the N West Bank were evacuated in 2005 in conjunction with the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

Red Bank, borough (1990 pop. 10,636), Monmouth co., E N.J., on the Navesink estuary, in a fertile farm area; inc. 1908. Settled in the late 17th cent, it was an early shipping center and has become a summer and winter resort and residential suburb with some light industry and several arts-related venues. Landmarks include Old Christ Church (1769) and the Allen House (1667). Count Basie was born there.

Jodrell Bank Observatory, observatory for radio astronomy located at Jodrell Bank, Macclesfield, Cheshire, England. Founded in 1945 on the site of a botanical experiment station, it is administered by the Univ. of Manchester. Originally known as the Jodrell Bank Experimental Station, it was officially the Nuffield Radio Astronomy Laboratories from 1966 to 1999. The principal instrument is one of the world's largest fully steerable radio antennas, the Lovell Telescope, with an altazimuth-mounted parabolic dish 250 ft (76 m) in diameter. In addition, the facility has smaller altazimuth paraboloid and axis paraboloid antennas. Research programs include studies of galactic structure, angular sizes and structure of radio sources, polarization of radio sources, quasars, pulsars, molecules in interstellar space, and lunar radar. It is part of the MERLIN array (Multi-Element-Radio-Linked-Interferometer) that includes other radio telescopes throughout England.

International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), specialized agency of the United Nations, with headquarters at Washington, D.C.; also called the World Bank. Plans were laid at the Bretton Woods Conference (1944) for the formation of a world bank; it was formally organized in 1945, when 28 countries ratified the agreement; there are now 185 members. The bank not only makes loans to member nations, but, under government guarantee, to private investors, for the purpose of facilitating productive investment, encouraging foreign trade, and discharging burdens of international debt. All members of the bank must also belong to the International Monetary Fund. The bank is self-sustaining and has maintained a profit on its lending activities. It is controlled by a board of governors, one from each member state. Votes are allocated according to capital subscription. Ordinary affairs are conducted by 22 executive directors, five appointed by the five largest capital subscribers, France, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, and the United States, and 17 elected by the remaining members. Regional vice presidents oversee the bank's operations in five regions: Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, East Africa, West Africa, and (in one grouping) Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.

The bank also operates the Economic Development Institute, which offers training in economic development for officials of member countries. Closely affiliated with the bank is the International Finance Corporation (est. 1956), which invests in private enterprises without government guarantee. The bank organized the International Development Association (1960) to extend credit on easier terms, mainly to developing countries. The group of institutions is known as the World Bank Group. Criticism that the IBRD-financed projects were environmentally destructive led the bank to establish an environmental fund (1990) providing low-interest loans for developing countries. Developing nations have complained that the IBRD imposes the free-market system on them, thereby discouraging planning, nationalization, and public investment.

Grameen Bank: see Yunus, Muhammad.

Foster, Norman Robert, Baron Foster of Thames Bank, 1935-, British architect, b. Manchester, grad. Manchester Univ. school of architecture (1961), Yale school of architecture (M.A., 1962). Foster and three other architects formed the influential Team 4, working from 1963 to 1967, when he established his own firm. Noted for the elegant and graceful modernism of his many commissions, he also pays sharp attention to detailing. Foster finds expressive power in a wide variety of cutting-edge technologies, fitting each building to its site, street, or landscape and often taking into account various ecological factors. He first won acclaim for his 1964 "Cockpit," a minimalist glass bubble partially dug into the earth in Cornwall. Highlights of his early architectural output include the world's first inflatable office building (1970), the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich, England (1977), and the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, Hong Kong (1985), an innovative skyscraper filled with natural light and lifted on columns above a public plaza.

Among the prolific Foster's later works are the Stansted Airport, London, with its lightweight "floating roof" (1991); Carré d'Art, Nǐmes, France (1993); the Joslyn Art Museum annex, Omaha, Nebr. (1994); the 60-story triangular Commerzbank, Frankfurt, Germany (1997), the world's first ecological high-rise with a building-height atrium core and nine tall sky gardens; the vast skylight-roofed Lap Kok Airport, Hong Kong (1998); and the renovation of Berlin's Reichstag (1999), with its glass dome and suspended interior spiral ramp. Foster has reshaped London's 21st-century skyline with such projects as the new city hall (2001), an inventive leaning sphere of glass and tubular steel also fitted with a curling interior ramp, and the Swiss Re tower (2004), a 40-story elongated oval nicknamed the Gherkin, sheathed in spirals of glass and featuring interior gardens on each level. Among his other 21st-century works are the Millau bridge (2004) over the River Tarn in France's Massif Central, the world's tallest road bridge, and the Hearst Tower, New York City (2006), a shimmering skyscraper sheathed in glass and diamond-gridded stainless steel built atop the company's original 1928 stone structure. Foster was knighted in 1990, and honored with a life peerage and awarded the Pritzker Prize in 1999.

European Investment Bank, nonprofit bank created in 1958 by the six founding countries of the European Economic Community (now part of the European Union [EU]). The bank makes or guarantees loans to EU members, principally for projects that will contribute to regional development within the union. Some loans are also made to nonmembers, including countries of the Mediterranean region and central and E Europe and, under the Lomé Convention and Cotonou Agreement, developing countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific.

Dogger Bank, extensive sandbank, c.6,800 sq mi (17,610 sq km), central North Sea, between Great Britain and Denmark. Covered by shallow water (c.55-120 ft/17-36 m deep), it is a major breeding ground for many types of fish. Important cod and herring fisheries are there.

Bank of the United States, name for two national banks established by the U.S. Congress to serve as government fiscal agents and as depositories for federal funds; the first bank was in existence from 1791 to 1811 and the second from 1816 to 1836.

The First Bank

The first bank was established under the auspices of the Federalists as part of the system proposed by Alexander Hamilton to establish the new government on a sound economic basis. Congress approved a charter for the bank despite the argument that the Constitution did not give Congress power to establish a central bank and the charge that the bank was designed to favor mercantile over agrarian interests.

The bank had a head office in Philadelphia and branches in eight other cities. The government subscribed one fifth of the capital of $10 million, but a loan of $2 million was immediately made to the government. In addition to acting as a fiscal agent for the government, the bank conducted a general commercial business.

It was well managed and paid good dividends, but its conservative policies and its restraining influence on state banks, through its refusal to accept state bank notes not redeemable in specie, antagonized more exuberant business elements, especially in the West. These interests combined with agrarian opponents of the bank to defeat its rechartering, despite the support given the bank by the Madison administration. The bank concluded its affairs and repaid its shareholders.

The Second Bank

Financing the War of 1812 proved difficult because of the lack of a central bank, and by the end of the war the financial system of the country was in chaos. Enough support was forthcoming in Congress and a new bank was chartered for 20 years. The second bank, capitalized at $35 million, operated much as did the first one, 25 branches being established.

After an initial period of difficulty during the presidency (1816-19) of William Jones, the bank was placed on a sound basis by Langdon Cheves (1819-22). It became especially prosperous under the management of Nicholas Biddle, but was criticized by state banks and frontiersmen on the grounds that it was too powerful and that it operated in the interests of the commercial classes of the East.

Opponents of the bank came into power with the election (1828) of Andrew Jackson. Although the bank's charter did not expire until 1836, Henry Clay persuaded Biddle to apply to Congress for a renewal in 1832. President Jackson vetoed the bill for its recharter, and the bank became a leading issue in his fight for reelection against Clay. Interpreting his victory at the polls as an expression of popular will on the subject, Jackson did not wait for the expiration of the bank's charter but began in 1833, through his new Secretary of the Treasury Roger B. Taney, to deposit government moneys in state banks, referred to by his opponents as "pet banks." Under Martin Van Buren's administration the Independent Treasury System was established to handle the government's funds.

Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel: see under Nobel Prize; for a table of the winners of the prize, see Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (table).

Year	Recipient(s)
1969	Ragnar Frisch Jan Tinbergen
1970	Paul A. Samuelson
1971	Simon Kuznets
1972	Sir John R. Hicks Kenneth J. Arrow
1973	Wassily Leontief
1974	Gunnar Myrdal Friedrich A. von Hayek
1975	Leonid V. Kantorovich Tjalling C. Koopmans
1976	Milton Friedman
1977	James E. Meade Bertil Ohlin
1978	Herbert A. Simon
1979	Sir Arthur Lewis Theodore W. Schultz
1980	Lawrence R. Klein
1981	James Tobin
1982	George J. Stigler
1983	Gerard Debreu
1984	Richard Stone
1985	Franco Modigliani
1986	James M. Buchanan
1987	Robert M. Solow
1988	Maurice Allais
1989	Trygve Haavelmo
1990	Harry M. Markowitz William F. Sharpe Merton H. Miller
1991	Ronald H. Coase
1992	Gary S. Becker
1993	Robert W. Fogel Douglass C. North
1994	John F. Nash John C. Hasranyi Reinhard Selten
1995	Robert E. Lucas, Jr.
1996	William S. Vickrey James A. Mirrlees
1997	Robert C. Merton Myron S. Scholes
1998	Amartya Sen
1999	Robert A. Mundell
2000	James J. Heckman Daniel L. McFadden
2001	George A. Akerlof A. Michael Spence Joseph E. Stiglitz
2002	Daniel Kahneman Vernon L. Smith
2003	Robert F. Engle Clive W. J. Granger
2004	Finn E. Kydland Edward C. Prescott
2005	Robert J. Aumann Thomas C. Schelling
2006	Edmund S. Phelps

Bank of England, central bank and note-issuing institution of Great Britain. Popularly known as the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street, its main office stands on the street of that name in London. The bank has eight branches, all of which are located in the British Isles. Although Bank of England notes are legal tender throughout Great Britain and Northern Ireland, banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland also issue notes that may be either used as currency themselves or exchanged for Bank of England issues. In all matters beside note issue, the Bank of England has sole central banking functions in Great Britain. The affairs of the bank are controlled by a governor, a deputy, and 16 directors.

It was founded (1694) as a commercial bank by William Paterson with a capital of £1.2 million, which was advanced to the government in return for banking privileges, including the right to issue notes up to the amount of its capital. In 1709 the capital was doubled; the charter was renewed in 1742, 1764, and 1781. The bank's facilities proved a great asset in English commercial, and later industrial, expansion. The bank's functions were both public and private; it safeguarded the English pound and also operated for private profit. Efficient regulation was assured by the Bank Charter Act of 1844, which laid the basis for the bank's modern structure. The issue department, which handles the issuing of bank notes for general circulation, was separated from the banking department, which handles the remaining banking functions, including the management of the public debt, and serves as the depository of government funds and as the staple bank of England. It was privately owned until 1946, when an act of Parliament provided for its nationalization. The stockholders were compensated, and the bank subsequently dropped virtually all its private business. In 1997 the bank was given the power to set interest rates, a function formerly performed by the cabinet; at the same time its oversight of the British banking industry was transferred to the Securities and Investments Board

In the U.S., an unsound bank chartered under state law during the period of state banking control (1816–63). Such banks distributed currency backed by questionable securities and were located in inaccessible areas to discourage note redemption. Note circulation by state banks ended with the passage of the National Bank Act of 1863, which provided for the incorporation of national banks and the issue of banknotes on the security of government bonds. The term wildcat bank was later applied to any unstable bank.

Learn more about wildcat bank with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Financial institution that gathers savings and pays interest or dividends to savers. It channels the savings of individuals who wish to consume less than their incomes to borrowers who wish to spend more. This function is performed by mutual savings banks, savings and loan associations, credit unions, postal savings systems, and municipal savings banks. Unlike a commercial bank, a savings bank does not accept demand deposits. Many savings banks originated as part of a philanthropic effort to encourage saving among people of modest means. The earliest municipal savings banks developed from the municipal pawnshops of Italy (see pawnbroking). Other early savings banks were founded in Germany in 1778 and The Netherlands in 1817. The first U.S. savings banks were nonprofit institutions established in the early 1800s for charitable purposes.

Learn more about savings bank with a free trial on Britannica.com.

In the U.S., any commercial bank chartered and supervised by the federal government and operated by private individuals. National banks were created during the Civil War under the National Bank Act of 1863 to combat financial instability caused by state banks and to help finance the war effort. When these banks purchased federal bonds and deposited them with the comptroller of the currency, they were permitted to circulate national bank notes, thereby creating a stable, uniform national currency. After the Civil War, the government began to retire the bonds issued during the war, which reduced the number of national bank notes that could be issued. Concern over the inflexibility of national bank notes led to the formation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913, which all national banks were required to join. The U.S. Treasury assumed the obligation of issuing national bank notes in 1935, effectively ending the issue of money by private commercial banks.

Learn more about national bank with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Firm that originates, underwrites, and distributes new security issues of corporations and government agencies. The Banking Act of 1933 required the separation of investment banking and commercial banking functions. Investment banks operate by purchasing all the new securities issued by a corporation at one price and selling fractions of the new issue to the investing public at prices high enough to yield a profit. The investment bank is responsible for setting the public offering price, which it bases on probable demand and assessments of the economic climate. A syndicate of investment banking firms underwrites and distributes most security issues in order to divide the risk of the new issue. An initial public offering (IPO) refers to the issuance of the first public shares of a formerly nonpublic company. Seealso bank; central bank; savings bank; security.

Learn more about investment bank with a free trial on Britannica.com.

National or regional financial institution designed to provide medium- and long-term capital for productive investment. Such investment is usually accompanied by technical assistance. Some development banks are government-owned and -operated, while others are private. Many have been established under the auspices of the World Bank. Among the largest are the Inter-American Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the African Development Bank.

Learn more about development bank with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Bank that makes loans to businesses, consumers, and nonbusiness institutions. Early commercial banks were limited to accepting deposits of money or valuables for safekeeping and verifying coinage or exchanging one jurisdiction's coins for another's. By the 17th century most of the essentials of modern banking, including foreign exchange, the payment of interest, and the granting of loans, were in place. It became common for individuals and firms to exchange funds through bankers with a written draft, the precursor to the modern check. Because a commercial bank is required to hold only a fraction of its deposits as cash reserves, it can use some of the money deposited by its customers to extend loans. Commercial banks also offer a range of other services, including savings accounts, safe-deposit boxes, and trust services. Seealso bank; central bank; investment bank; savings bank.

Learn more about commercial bank with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Institution, such as the U.S. Federal Reserve System, charged with regulating the size of a nation's money supply, the availability and cost of credit, and the foreign exchange value of its currency (see foreign exchange). Central banks act as the fiscal agent of the government, issuing notes to be used as legal tender, supervising the operations of the commercial banking system, and implementing monetary policy. By increasing or decreasing the supply of money and credit, they affect interest rates, thereby influencing the economy. Modern central banks regulate the money supply by buying and selling assets (e.g., through the purchase or sale of government securities). They may also raise or lower the discount rate to discourage or encourage borrowing by commercial banks. By adjusting the reserve requirement (the minimum cash reserves that banks must hold against their deposit liabilities), central banks contract or expand the money supply. Their aim is to maintain conditions that support a high level of employment and production and stable domestic prices. Central banks also take part in cooperative international currency arrangements designed to help stabilize or regulate the foreign exchange rates of participating countries. Central banks have become varied in authority, autonomy, functions, and instruments of action, but there has been consistent increased emphasis on the interdependence of monetary and other national economic policies, especially fiscal policies and debt management policies. Seealso bank; investment bank; savings bank.

Learn more about central bank with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Organization that collects, stores, processes, and supplies blood. Most blood donations are separated into components, which can be frozen and stored longer than whole blood and used by multiple patients. In hemapheresis, large amounts of one component can be separated from a single donor's blood and the rest returned to the donor. Before World War I, a physician had to find a compatible donor and give an immediate blood transfusion. Safe storage of blood and its components made possible innovations such as heart-lung machines.

Learn more about blood bank with a free trial on Britannica.com.

or bank rate

Interest rate charged by a central bank for loans of reserve funds to commercial banks and other financial intermediaries. The discount rate is one important indicator of the condition of monetary policy in an economy. Because raising or lowering the discount rate alters the rates that commercial banks charge on loans, adjustment of the discount rate is used as a tool to combat recession and inflation.

Learn more about discount rate with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Bill of exchange drawn on a bank and payable on demand. Checks have become the chief form of money in the domestic commerce of developed countries. As a written order to pay money, a check may be transferred from one person to another by endorsement. Most checks are not paid in currency but by the debiting and crediting of bank deposits. There are several special forms of checks. A cashier's check is issued by a bank and has unquestioned acceptability, as does a certified check, which is a depositor's check that has been guaranteed by a bank. Traveler's checks are cashier's checks sold to travelers, which must be signed twice by the payee, once when the check is issued and once when it is cashed; reimbursement is guaranteed if they are lost or stolen.

Learn more about check with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Institution that deals in money and its substitutes and provides other financial services. Banks accept deposits and make loans and derive a profit from the difference in the interest paid to lenders (depositors) and charged to borrowers, respectively. They also profit from fees charged for services. The three major classes of banks are commercial banks, investment banks, and central banks. Banking depends entirely on public confidence in the system's soundness; no bank could pay all its depositors should they simultaneously demand cash, as may happen in a panic. Seealso credit union; Federal Reserve System; savings and loan association; savings bank.

Learn more about bank with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Specialized agency of the United Nations system, established at the Bretton Woods Conference for postwar reconstruction. It is the principal international development institution. Its five divisions are the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD; its main component), the International Development Association (IDA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). The IDA (founded 1960) makes interest-free loans to the bank's poorest member countries. The IFC (founded 1956) lends to private businesses in developing countries. The MIGA (founded 1985) supports national and private agencies that encourage foreign direct investment by offering insurance against noncommercial risks. The ICSID (founded 1966) was developed to relieve the IBRD of the burden of settling investment disputes. Seealso International Monetary Fund.

Learn more about World Bank with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Area (pop., 2005 prelim.: 2,372,200), Palestine, west of the Jordan River and east of Jerusalem. Covering an area of about 2,270 sq mi (5,900 sq km), excluding east Jerusalem, the territory is also known within Israel by its biblical names, Judaea and Samaria. It is a region with deep history, forming the heart of historic Palestine. Populated areas include Nāblus, Hebron, Bethlehem, and Jericho. Under a 1947 UN agreement, most of what is now the West Bank was to become part of a Palestinian state. When the State of Israel was formed, the Arabs attacked Israel (see Arab-Israeli wars), and the partition plan was never adopted. Following a truce, Jordan remained in control of the area and annexed it in 1950. Israel subsequently occupied it during the Six-Day War of 1967. During the 1970s and '80s Israel established settlements there, provoking resentment among the Arab population and protest from the international community. Arab uprisings began in 1987 in the Gaza Strip and spread to the West Bank (see intifādsubdotah). Jordan relinquished its claims in 1988, and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) assumed power. Secret meetings between the PLO and Israel in 1993 led to an end of violence and an agreement granting Palestinian self-rule in parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Further negotiations to resolve outstanding issues proceeded intermittently in the 1990s but broke down amid renewed violence in late 2000. In 2007, clashes between leading Palestinian parties Hsubdotamās and Fatah and the failure of a coalition government led to Hsubdotamās's taking control of the Gaza Strip and a Fatah-led emergency cabinet taking control of the West Bank.

Learn more about West Bank with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Bank in Bangladesh, the first bank to specialize in small loans for poor individuals. Originated by economist Muhammad Yunus, the Grameen banking model is based on groups of five prospective borrowers who meet regularly with Grameen Bank field managers. Typically, two of the five prospective borrowers are granted loans. If, after a probationary time period, the first two borrowers meet the terms of repayment, then loans are granted to the remaining group members. Peer pressure acts as a replacement for traditional loan collateral. Grameen became an independent bank in 1983; headquartered in Dhaka, Bangladesh, it has more than 2,200 branches in the country. An average Grameen loan is about $300. The Grameen model has come to symbolize an efficient means of helping the poor by providing them with opportunities to help themselves. Nearly all of Grameen's loan recipients have been women. In 2006 Grameen Bank and Yunus were awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace.

Learn more about Grameen Bank with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Bank chartered in 1791 by the U.S. Congress. It was conceived by Alexander Hamilton to pay off the country's debts from the American Revolution and to provide a stable currency. Its establishment, opposed by Thomas Jefferson, was marked by extended debate over its constitutionality and contributed significantly to the evolution of pro- and anti-bank factions into the first U.S. political parties, the Federalist Party and the Democratic-Republican Party. The national bank played the unexpected but beneficial role of preventing private state banks from overextending credit, a restriction that some nevertheless considered an affront to states' rights. Meanwhile, agrarian populists regarded the bank as an institution of privilege and wealth and the enemy of democracy and the interests of the common people. Antagonism over the bank issue grew so heated that its charter could not be renewed in 1811. Criticism of the bank reached its height during the administration of Pres. Andrew Jackson, who led anti-bank forces in the long struggle known as the Bank War. The bank's charter expired in 1836. Its reorganization as the Bank of the United States of Pennsylvania ended its regulation of private banks.

Learn more about Bank of the United States with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Central bank of Britain, headquartered in London. Incorporated by act of Parliament in 1694, it soon became the largest and most prestigious financial institution in England. It did not assume the responsibilities of a central bank until the 19th century, and it was privately owned until 1946, when it was nationalized.

Learn more about Bank of England with a free trial on Britannica.com.