Banks and financial institutions are an internal part of the world of business. Given their primacy, it is inconceivable for any business organization to do business without a bank account or a banking transaction.
Imae Source: pmbl-ng.com
In other words, every organization, whatever is its structure, has to have bank dealings. Be it a partnership or proprietorship, private limited company or a public limited company, a government department or a society or trust, it has to have banking-related transactions in the course of its business.
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The nature and variety of dealings, of course, depend upon the activities and expanse of business. It is against this backdrop that banking-related correspondence assumes significance.
Generally speaking, some common services provided by banks include the following:
1. Deposit facilities
2. Credit facilities
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3. Remittances and payments
4. Export, import and foreign exchange facilities
5. Investment banking and wealth management
6. Ancillary services
1. Deposit Facilities:
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Current, savings and term deposit accounts would involve account opening, issue of cheques, nomination facilities, death claims, stop payment instructions, payment of periodical interest, introduction formalities and so on.
2. Credit Facilities:
Banks are known to extend a variety of credit facilities such as term loans, cash credit, bills discounting, vehicles loans, agriculture loans, corporate credit, retail loans, guarantees and letters of credit, and a host of such other need-based facilities.
These would involve credit requests, services and sureties, regulation of rates of interest, services charges and other terms and conditions, request for enhancements, waiver of penalties, one-time settlements and so on.
3. Remittances and Payments:
These would relate to transfer of funds from one account to the other, from one city to the other, payment of bills, collection of cheques and bills, an ailment of modem payments systems such as Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) Electronic Clearing Service (ECS), National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT), and Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Transfers (SWIFT) and so on.
4. Export, Import and Foreign Exchange Facilities:
Banks provide not only various domestic banking facilities, but also international banking services. Export and import credit, foreign letters of credit, cross country payments, currency exchange, remittance from abroad and such other services are provided to individuals as well as business entities.
5. Investment Banking and Wealth Management:
These include providing personal banking, asset management, executor and trusteeship arrangements and such other services.
6. Auxiliary Services:
Banks also provide a very wide range of auxiliary or subsidiary services such as safe custody and safe deposit locker facilities, solvency certificates, insurance and mutual fund services, credit and debit cards, and sale of gold coins.
Banking correspondence would necessarily cover all the above activities and, indeed, all such services and facilities which banks offer to their customers. In order to be able to correspond appropriately with banks, the writer should necessarily have a fair understanding of banking services and the method of availing those services.