Talk to an adviser

Learn

Banking, from first principles.

How banks and other licensed institutions work: money creation, capital, liquidity, governance, compliance and the plumbing of payments.

  1. 01 What is a bank? What legally makes an institution a bank, the main types of bank, and what a banking licence permits and does not permit.8 min read
  2. 02 Fractional reserves and how banks create money How bank lending creates deposits, what reserve requirements do today, and why capital rather than reserves limits how much a bank can lend.8 min read
  3. 03 Bank capital and the Basel framework CET1, Tier 1 and total capital, risk-weighted assets, Basel III minimums and buffers, the leverage ratio, and minimum initial capital for new banks.8 min read
  4. 04 Liquidity and funding: LCR, NSFR, deposit insurance and the lender of last resort How banks are required to survive a 30-day stress and fund themselves stably, and how deposit insurance and central bank lending complete the safety net.9 min read
  5. 05 Governance and fit and proper requirements How bank boards, the three lines of defence and key function holders are organised, how fit and proper assessments work, and what regulators mean by substance.9 min read
  6. 06 Compliance: AML, KYC and sanctions FATF standards, customer due diligence, beneficial ownership, PEPs, sanctions, monitoring, suspicious activity reports, the EU AML package and the travel rule.9 min read
  7. 07 Correspondent banking explained Nostro and vostro accounts, intermediary banks, SWIFT, nested relationships, de-risking, and why new banks struggle to obtain USD and EUR clearing.8 min read
  8. 08 Core banking, cloud, outsourcing and technology regulation What core banking systems do, how outsourcing and cloud rules apply to banks, what DORA requires, and how technology supports regulatory reporting.7 min read
  9. 09 Cards and payment rails Card schemes, issuing and acquiring, BIN sponsorship and principal membership, SEPA, instant payments, ISO 20022 and real-time gross settlement.8 min read
  10. 10 How jurisdictions differ in licensing banks Why the same banking activity is licensed differently in the EU, UK, Switzerland, free zones and offshore centres, and how FATF and EU lists affect access.8 min read

All films and articles