A financial institution, sometimes called a banking institution, is a business entity that provides service as an intermediary for different types of financial monetary transactions. Broadly speaking, there are three major types of financial institution:
- Depository institution – deposit-taking institution that accepts and manages deposits and makes loans, including bank, building society, credit union, trust company, and mortgage broker;
- Contractual institution – insurance company and pension fund
- Investment institution – investment bank, underwriter, and other different types of financial entities managing investments.
The Financial Services Agency is a Japanese government agency and an integrated financial regulator responsible for overseeing banking, securities and exchange, and insurance sectors in order to ensure the stability of the financial system of Japan. The agency operates with a Commissioner and reports to the Minister of State for Financial Services. It oversees the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission and the Certified Public Accountants and Auditing Oversight Board. Its main office is located in Tokyo.
The Polish Securities and Exchange Commission,, (KPWiG) was the financial government agency responsible for supervising compliance with regulations governing honest trade and competition until 2006 when it was absorbed into the Polish Financial Supervision Authority.
The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions is an independent agency of the Government of Canada reporting to the Minister of Finance created "to contribute to public confidence in the Canadian financial system". It is the sole regulator of banks, and the primary regulator of insurance companies, trust companies, loan companies and pension plans in Canada.
Financial Supervisory Authority is the Swedish government agency responsible for financial regulation in Sweden. It is responsible for the oversight, regulation and authorisation of financial markets and their participants. The agency falls under the Swedish Ministry of Finance and regulates all organisations that provide financial services in Sweden.
The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, better known by its abbreviation BaFin, is the financial regulatory authority for Germany. It is an independent federal institution with headquarters in Bonn and Frankfurt and falls under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Finance. BaFin supervises about 2,700 banks, 800 financial services institutions, and over 700 insurance undertakings.
A non-banking financial institution (NBFI) or non-bank financial company (NBFC) is a financial institution that is not legally a bank; it does not have a full banking license or is not supervised by a national or international banking regulatory agency. NBFC facilitate bank-related financial services, such as investment, risk pooling, contractual savings, and market brokering. Examples of these include insurance firms, pawn shops, cashier's check issuers, check cashing locations, payday lending, currency exchanges, and microloan organizations. Alan Greenspan has identified the role of NBFIs in strengthening an economy, as they provide "multiple alternatives to transform an economy's savings into capital investment which act as backup facilities should the primary form of intermediation fail."
The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) is South Korea's integrated financial regulator that examines and supervises financial institutions under the broad oversight of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), the government regulatory authority staffed by civil servants.
The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) is a European Union financial regulatory institution that replaced the Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors (CEIOPS). It is established under EU Regulation 1094/2010.
The Financial Supervisory Authority is the single supervisory authority for the financial sector in Iceland. Companies regulated by the authority are commercial banks, savings banks, insurance companies, insurance brokers, credit institutions, securities firms, securities brokers, mutual funds and pension funds management companies and other entities authorized to receive deposits. The current CEO is Ms. Unnur Gunnarsdóttir, who succeeded the controversial Gunnar T. Andersen in March 2012. Deputy CEO Ragnar Haflidason succeeded Jónas Fr Jónsson in October 2008 and Gunnar T Andersen took over as CEO in April 2009. The first CEO was Pall Gunnar Palsson, who directed from 1999 to 2005.
The Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS) was an independent advisory group on banking supervision in the European Union (EU). Established by the European Commission in 2004 by Decision 2004/5/EC, and its charter revised on 23 January 2009, it was composed of senior representatives of bank supervisory authorities and central banks of the European Union. On 1 January 2011, this committee was succeeded by the European Banking Authority (EBA), which took over all existing and ongoing tasks and responsibilities of the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS). The European Banking Authority was established by Regulation (EC) No. 1093/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010.
The International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) is a voluntary membership organization of insurance supervisors from over 190 jurisdictions, constituting 97% of the world's insurance premiums. It is the international standards-setting body for the insurance sector. The IAIS was established in 1994 and operates as a verein, a type of non-profit organisation under Swiss Civil Law.
The European System of Financial Supervision (ESFS) is the framework for financial supervision in the European Union that has been in operation since 2011. The system consists of the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs), the European Systemic Risk Board, the Joint Committee of the European Supervisory Authorities, and the national supervisory authorities of EU member states. It was proposed by the European Commission in 2009 in response to the financial crisis of 2007–08.
The European Banking Authority (EBA) is a regulatory agency of the European Union headquartered in La Défense, Île-de-France. Its activities include conducting stress tests on European banks to increase transparency in the European financial system and identifying weaknesses in banks' capital structures.
Foreign exchange regulation is a form of financial regulation specifically aimed at the Forex market that is decentralized and operates with no central exchange or clearing house. Due to its decentralized and global nature, the foreign exchange market has been more prone to foreign exchange fraud and has been less regulated than other financial markets.
The Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) is the financial regulatory agency in Belgium.
Austrian Financial Market Authority(FMA) (German: Österreichische Finanzmarktaufsichtsbehörde) is the integrated financial regulatory authority for the Austrian financial industry. It is responsible for the supervision of credit institutions, payment institutions, insurance companies, pension funds, Fund managers, licensed securities service providers, rating agencies and stock exchanges.
