Banq

Last updated

In the English language, banq and banc are coined words pronounced identically to the word "bank". Both terms have been adopted by financial services companies and others to satisfy legal restrictions on the usage of the word bank. [1] The compound bancorp (banc/bank + corp[oration] ) is often used in the names of bank holding companies. For example, a hypothetical chartered bank named Bank of Manhattan might form a holding company named "Manhattan Bancorp", and a sister insurance business named "Banc of Manhattan Insurance". One well-known past example was Bank of America's investment banking entity, named Banc of America Securities (now part of Bank of America Merrill Lynch).

This practice originates from legal necessity: in the United States, the commerce departments of state governments generally prohibit or restrict the use of certain words in the names of corporations unless those corporations are legitimate chartered banks. For example, words prohibited by the state of Louisiana [2] include bank, banker, banking, savings, safe deposit, trust, trustee, and credit union.

The evasive nature of the word does not necessarily indicate that an imposter is attempting to fraudulently impersonate a bank. One notable example is a company called Cachet Banq Inc., [3] an automated clearing house processing service that performs automated banking transactions for payroll processing. The company does not claim to offer any banking services, such as deposits or loans, and would only be able to legally include the word "bank" in its name in its home state of California with the approval of the California Department of Financial Institutions. [4]

A similar example includes a company called Wine Banq, [5] whose name clearly suggests it has nothing to do with the banking industry.

Naming laws vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction as well as their interpretations. Notable counter-examples include blood banks and sperm banks.

Related Research Articles

In most legal jurisdictions, a financial institution is required to obtain a banking license before it is legally permitted to carry on a banking business. Besides other requirements, such a business is not permitted to contain in its name words such as bank, insurance, national, etc, unless it holds an appropriate license. Depending on banking regulations, jurisdictions may offer different types of banking licenses, such as:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bank One Corporation</span> Former bank of the United States

Bank One Corporation was an American bank founded in 1968 and at its peak the sixth-largest bank in the United States. It traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock symbol ONE. The company merged with JPMorgan Chase & Co. on July 1, 2004, with its CEO Jamie Dimon taking the lead at the combined company. The company had its headquarters in the Bank One Plaza in the Chicago Loop in Chicago, Illinois, now the headquarters of Chase's retail banking division.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">U.S. Bancorp</span> American bank holding company

U.S. Bancorp is an American bank holding company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and incorporated in Delaware. It is the parent company of U.S. Bank National Association, and is the fifth largest banking institution in the United States. The company provides banking, investment, mortgage, trust, and payment services products to individuals, businesses, governmental entities, and other financial institutions. As of 2019, it had 3,106 branches and 4,842 automated teller machines, primarily in the Western and Midwestern United States. In 2023 it ranked 149th on the Fortune 500, and it is considered a systemically important bank by the Financial Stability Board. The company also owns Elavon, a processor of credit card transactions for merchants, and Elan Financial Services, a credit card issuer that issues credit card products on behalf of small credit unions and banks across the U.S.

Bank of the West was an American financial institution headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States. It had more than 600 branches and offices in the Midwest and Western United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bank holding company</span> Company with significant ownership of one or more banks

A bank holding company is a company that controls one or more banks, but does not necessarily engage in banking itself. The compound bancorp or bancorporation is often used to refer to these companies as well.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Banking regulation and supervision</span> Policy framework for credit institutions

Banking regulation and supervision refers to a form of financial regulation which subjects banks to certain requirements, restrictions and guidelines, enforced by a financial regulatory authority generally referred to as banking supervisor, with semantic variations across jurisdictions. By and large, banking regulation and supervision aims at ensuring that banks are safe and sound and at fostering market transparency between banks and the individuals and corporations with whom they conduct business.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National City Corp.</span> American bank and part of National City Corp

National City Corporation was a regional bank holding company based in Cleveland, Ohio, founded in 1845; it was once one of the ten largest banks in America in terms of deposits, mortgages and home equity lines of credit. Subsidiary National City Mortgage is credited for doing the first mortgage in America. The company operated through an extensive banking network primarily in Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Wisconsin, and also served customers in selected markets nationally. Its core businesses included commercial and retail banking, mortgage financing and servicing, consumer finance, and asset management. The bank reached out to customers primarily through mass advertising and offered comprehensive banking services online. In its last years, the company was commonly known in the media by the abbreviated NatCity, with its investment banking arm even bearing the official name NatCity Investments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Branch (banking)</span> Retail location of a bank, credit union, or other financial institution

A branch, banking center or financial center is a retail location where a bank, credit union, or other financial institution offers a wide array of face-to-face and automated services to its customers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Busey Bank</span> Illinois Bank

First Busey Bank is a financial institution headquartered in Champaign, Illinois, and operates in Illinois, Indiana, and southwest Florida. It is owned by First Busey Holding, a financial holding company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Interstate Bancorp</span> Defunct American bank holding company

First Interstate Bancorp was a bank holding company based in the United States that was taken over in 1996 by Wells Fargo. Headquartered in Los Angeles, it was the nation's eighth largest banking company.

Associated Banc-Corp is a U.S. regional bank holding company providing retail banking, commercial banking, commercial real estate lending, private banking, and specialized financial services. Headquartered in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Associated is a Midwest bank with from more than 200 banking locations serving more than 100 communities throughout Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota. The company also operates loan production offices in Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio and Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Citizens BancShares</span> American financial services company

First Citizens Bancshares, Inc. is a bank holding company based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Its primary subsidiary is First Citizens Bank, which operates over 500 branches in 23 states and is one of the largest banks in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bank</span> Financial institution which accepts deposits

A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cadence Bank</span> Regional Bank

Cadence Bank is a commercial bank with dual headquarters in Tupelo, Mississippi and Houston, Texas with operations in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Illinois. In 1876, Raymond Trice and Company received a charter to create a bank in its hardware store in Verona, Mississippi. In 1886, the banking operation was moved to Tupelo, Mississippi and the company was renamed to Bank of Lee County, Mississippi. Soon after, it was renamed to the Bank of Tupelo. The bank was renamed to Bank of Mississippi in 1966. In 1997, the bank changed its name to BancorpSouth. In October 2021, the bank changed its name to Cadence Bank. It has the naming rights to Cadence Bank Amphitheatre in Atlanta and Cadence Bank Arena in Tupelo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deposit account</span> Bank holding into and from which money can be placed or withdrawn

A deposit account is a bank account maintained by a financial institution in which a customer can deposit and withdraw money. Deposit accounts can be savings accounts, current accounts or any of several other types of accounts explained below.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PacWest Bancorp</span> American bank holding company

PacWest Bancorp is an American bank holding company based in Beverly Hills, California, with one wholly owned banking subsidiary, Pacific Western Bank. It is a subsidiary of Banc of California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valley National Bank of Arizona</span> Former bank, based in Phoenix, Arizona

Valley National Bank of Arizona was a bank based in Phoenix, Arizona, founded in 1900 and acquired by Bank One in 1992. The bank was one of Arizona's leading financial institutions during the 20th century and the last major independent bank in Arizona at the time of its acquisition.

The Nasdaq Financial-100 (^IXF) is a stock market index operated by Nasdaq consisting of companies that are listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange and that are in the financial services industry, including banking, insurance, mortgages and securities trading. It was created in 1985 as the sister index to the more widely followed Nasdaq-100.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Star Banc Corporation</span>

Star Banc Corporation was a Cincinnati, Ohio-based regional bank holding company that acquired Firstar in 1998 and took the Firstar name; the merged bank acquired U.S. Bancorp in 2001 and took the U.S. Bancorp name. The company can trace its origins back to 1863 when it was first founded as the First National Bank of Cincinnati.

References

  1. "Restrictions on use of the word 'bank'". Reserve Bank of New Zealand. February 28, 2022. Retrieved April 4, 2024.
  2. Louisiana.gov, Document Compliance Checklist Archived October 22, 2006, at the Wayback Machine , section on Name Availability
  3. Cachet Banq website
  4. California Department of Financial Institutions FAQ Archived October 13, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  5. Wine Banq, "The Wine Banq | Home". Archived from the original on 2006-12-30. Retrieved 2006-11-04.