Banking is no longer restricted to the traditional aspects, which was recognized within the earlier days. Today, a bank is no longer just a place to put your savings or to go take loans, it has become more of an all-encompassing body. With the advent of investment banking, globalization and the easy cash flow in the economy, the banks received a face-lift and started getting involved in the business spheres.
Today, there are many nationalized as well as private banks, offering a host of services to companies, the government, as well as private individuals. Banking as a sector, branches out into Investment Banking, Private Banking, New Age Banking and many more.
Private Banking, in simple word, refers to banking with private individuals. This field offers personalized financial services, to individuals who are also known as High Net Worth Individuals. These are affluent people with a lot of financial assets and thus are looking for conventional and non-conventional ways of investing them. The main purpose of these banks is to provide these individuals, with options that suit their needs of investing their financial assets.
These banks do not just provide investment advice, but go a step ahead and offer all of their services, exclusively to these individuals. These services include managing their portfolios, protecting and growing their assets, future financial planning; basically, they manage the entire financial situation of the individuals. One of the key benefits of private banks is the privacy and the anonymity offered, in terms of the dealings, these also provide tailored financial solutions, which adds to the lure.
Whereas on the other hand, retail banking basically deals with all the day to day activities of a bank. These banks provide all the services that any individual would be in need of like, account services, personal loans, mortgages, certifications of deposits and so on. In retail banking, the focus is more on the individual, than their financial assets. These banks are usually the local branches of larger commercial banks, which the customers use as a one-stop-shop for all of their banking needs.
As time progresses, these banks have begun to expand the purview of the services they offer, now customers are also provided with financial advice, from a board of financial advisors. Apart from this, retail banking has also widened its horizons through the concept of internet finance.
With the internet revolution in full swing, a lot of these banks have begun to offer services, exclusively through mobile phones applications and online. These services are very similar to those offered by any traditional bank, but cost comparatively less. While private banks offer specialized services, retail banks have a huge array of services to offer from wealth management, brokerage accounts to financial planning as well as private banking solutions.
While retail banking is a wider sphere, private banking forms a part under these services. Anyone looking to enter these fields is required to have a strong background in finance, economics, and commerce. While there are a lot of institutes, that offer specialization courses in the field of finance. Imarticus Learning is a leading education institute, offering courses in new-age banking, retail banking, wealth management and more.
