商业银行的定义

Definition of a Bank

由于法律对商业银行的设立采取特许制度,因此需要界定商业银行的实质,以防止逃避银行监管的脱法行为。对这个问题的讨论涉及《商业银行法》的立法目的,而这和商业银行的特殊功能密切相关。商业银行的特殊功能主要表现为通过吸收活期存款而发放贷款,这导致了商业银行存在特殊的资产负债结构,需要法律介入监管。因此,在界定什么样的行为在实质上构成了商业银行业务、任何其他机构非经特许成立为商业银行不得从事时,核心因素应当是吸收活期存款。由此,还款期限是否固定和是否以此从事经营这两个因素可以区分非法吸收公众存款的行为与民间借贷、非法发行企业债券等行为。

For authorization needed to set up a bank, there should be a definition of bank to prevent behaviors eluding this market permission. How to define a bank is a question needing more interpretation, it is especially connected with special function of bank in modem society. Bank provides current account to the public, accepting deposits and lending loans. This function make the balance sheet of bank more fragile, needing state supporting by providing deposit insurance system. So the core definition of bank is the function of its current account service. We should use current account as the standard to distinguish illegal banking activities and illegal securities offerings.