As late in history as the year 1746, a British statesman, speaking in the House of Commons, inquired: "What is it that we call a Banker? There is in this city of London a company or corporation, called Goldsmiths, and most of those called bankers are of that corporation; but so far as I know, there is not a company or corporation in England called Bankers, nor has the business any definition or description either by common law or by statute. By custom we call a man a banker who has an open shop, with proper counters, servants, and books, for receiving other people's money, in order to keep it safe, and return it upon demand; and when any man has opened such a shop we call him a banker, without inquiring whether any man has given him any money to keep or no; for this is a trade where no apprenticeship is required, it having never yet been supposed that a man who sets up the trade of banking could be sued upon the statute of Queen Elizabeth which enacts, that none shall use any art or mystery then used, but such as have served an apprenticeship in the same."

In the present day, the functions of banks are better understood. A broad view of them, from an international standpoint, is as follows:

A banker is a dealer in capital, or more properly a dealer in money. He is an intermediate party between the borrower and the lender. He borrows of one party, and lends to another; and the difference between the terms at which he borrows and those at which he lends, forms the source of his profit. By this means he draws into active operation those small sums of money which were previously unproductive in the hands of private individuals; and at the same time furnishes accommodation to those who have need of additional capital to carry on their commercial transactions.