8. Complete the following sentences in English:

1. The English commercial banks have …

2. The Board is concerned with …

3. The essence of a bank's activities is …

4. The current account is drawn upon by …

5. At the end of each business year the Directors …

6. In preparation for the Annual General Meeting a bank …

7. Report and Accounts must be sent …

9. Fill in the blanks with proper words or phrases.

1. The board appoints the … and the …

2. An employee in a bank who pays out and receives money is called a …

3. The Board of Directors is elected by the …

4. The Board may distribute … to the shareholders out of the profits once or twice a year.

5. The may be high even after all the bank's expenses are paid.

6. A bank will need to seek approval for a large … to a customer.

7. The Board will discuss the bank's … in other businesses.

10. Read and translate text b using a dictionary Text b

Banks are among the most important financial institutions. The way in which a bank is organized and operates is determined by its objectives. The first and most important function of a central bank is to accept responsibility for advising the government on the making of the country's financial policy, and then to see that it is carried out. The aim of commercial banks is to earn profit. Over the years banks have developed organizational forms, or structures, designed to per­form these various roles and to supply the services their customers demand.

A commercial bank which provides the same range of services year after year is less likely to be successful. Successful competition in the constantly changing global business environment requires mar­ket-driven strategies that are responsive to customers' needs and wants. Executives who do not recognize the changes occurring in the vast array of markets for products and services will not be able to cope with the unprecedented competitive pressure in the market place. To improve competitive advantages they are drastically alter­ing their business and marketing strategies which may include down­sizing, repositioning, market segmentation, market niching, altering the business portfolio, pricing, promotion and strategic alliances be­tween companies. With the global increase in the number of competi­tors banks face in their major markets, more and more banking firms have become market-driven and more alert to the changing service demands of their customers and also to the challenges posed by bank and nonbank competitors. This trend forced bank managers to be­come more concerned with service marketing activities and with profitability and growth.

Banks are usually organized to follow their functions and supply the services demanded by them as efficiently as possible. Moreover, because larger banks generally play a wider range of roles and offer more services, a bank's size is also a significant factor in determining how banks are organized.

Usually the service operations of a small bank are monitored by a cashier and auditor working in the accounting division and by vice-presidents heading up the bank's loan, fundraising, marketing and trust departments (if the bank offers trust services). These offi­cers report to the senior executives of the firm, consisting of the board chairman, the president (who usually runs the bank from day to day), and senior vice-presidents, who are responsible for long-range planning and for assisting heads of the various departments in solving their most pressing problems. Senior management, in turn, reports periodically (at least once each month) to members of the board of directors. There is often close contact between top management and the management and staff of each line division.

The large banks possess some potential advantages over small and medium-size banks. Because the largest institutions serve many different markets with many different services, they are better diver­sified, both geographically and by product line, to withstand the risks of a fluctuating economy. They also possess the important advantage of being able to raise financial capital at relatively low cost and the professional expertise to focus that new capital on the most promis­ing loans and business acquisitions.

The oldest and most common banking organizations in the United States are unit banks. They offer all of their services from one office though a small number of services (such as taking deposits or cashing checks) may be offered from limited-service facilities, such as drive-in windows, automated teller machines (ATM) and retail store point-of-sale (POS) terminals that are linked to the bank's com­puter system. Nowadays, however, most banks desire to open up new market areas and to diversify geographically in order to reduce the risk that comes from relying on a single office location for customers and income. The tendency in recent years has been for most banking institutions to become more complex organizations. When a bank begins to grow it usually adds new services and new facilities. With them come new departments and divisions to help the management more effectively to focus and control the bank's resources and service the most profitable customer segments.