A savings account is a basic type of bank account that allows you to deposit money, keep it safe, and withdraw funds, all while earning interest. Savings accounts offered by most banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions and typically pay interest on your deposits.

A deposit account is an account used exclusively to save money and earn interest. Example of a deposit account is in form of a fixed deposit account that assigns a period to a saving during which time the account holder will not recall their funds until maturity. A loss of interest in lieu of notice is penalized on the account in cases of early redemption.

A bank guarantee, like a line of credit, guarantees a sum of money to a beneficiary. Unlike a line of credit, the sum is only paid if the opposing party does not fulfill the stipulated obligations under the contract. e.g Performance guarantee or bond issued to contractors.

A debit card (also known as a bank card or ATM card) is a plastic payment card that provides the cardholder electronic access to their bank account(s) at a financial institution, ATM or POS. It allows you to spend money that is already in your account. It may also come in the form of a pre-paid card.

A card issued by a financial institution giving the holder an option to borrow funds, usually at point of sale. Credit cards charge interest and are primarily used for short-term financing.

Loan products are basically credit lines or advance of funds by a financial institution to its customers in form of personal loans, business loans, mortgages etc.

Local Money Transfers

This is the movement of funds within country from one point to a designated point in Country in favor of a named beneficiary as requested by the sender. e.g. Swift cash

Foreign Exchange Transactions

Commercial banks' purchase and sales of foreign exchange with resident and non-resident customers e.g. buying and selling of cash dollars, transfers in foreign currency

Transaction accounts that are generally used for business or personal needs. Most current accounts come with a cheque book and offer the facility to overdraw the account.

An extension of credit from a lending institution to a current account holder whose balance in the account is NIL. An overdraft allows the individual/company to continue withdrawing money even if the account has no funds on it.

The interbank market is the network where banks and financial institutions trade currencies between themselves e.g. Overnight lending to meet settlement shortfalls, high value foreign exchange trading.

An electronic transfer of funds across a network administered by hundreds of banks around the world. It is a cashless transfer of funds settled through NOSTRO (Our account) and VOSTRO (Your account) accounts. These are accounts held by banks to help make settlements in transfers between banks.

AS type of cheque where payment is guaranteed to be available by the issuing bank. Funds are debited in advance from the customer’s account and is therefore regarded as a safe way of receiving payments by providers of services.

A documentary letter of credit is an obligation of the bank that opens the letter of credit (the issuing bank) to pay an agreed amount to the seller on behalf of the buyer, upon receipt of the documents specified in the letter of credit in international trade. They are different types of LCs specifically, Irrevocable LCS, Sight LCs, back to back LCs.

Offshore banking is a term used to describe banking activity in currencies other than the currency of the country in which the bank accounts are held or in banking terminology, the term offshore bank account refers to a type of bank account with a financial institution in a jurisdiction where the depositor is not usually domiciled e.g. Investments accounts, stock broking services.

An Option is an agreement in which a seller conveys to a buyer of a contract the right, but not the obligation to buy or sell a specific quantity of a commodity at a specified price on or before a specified date. They are also known as derivatives because they derive their value from the global commodity price. e.g copper. There is an upfront cost.

A futures contract is a contract between two parties to exchange assets or services at a specified time in the future at a price agreed upon at the time of the contract. If the price of the commodity drops, the seller gains at the expense of the buyer.

Forwards contracts are similar to the futures contracts in terms of final outcomes with the difference being that forwards contracts can only be settled at the end of the contract period while with a futures contract the differences in prices are settled periodically through a process called marking to the market.

The process through which illiquid assets or contractual debts such as mortgages, loans etc. are pooled together to create interest bearing securities or bonds that are sold to third party investors. The originator receives the value of future cash flows as a lump sum from investors e.g. Mortgage backed securities and consumer loans backed securities.

These are accounts opened in the currency of a foreign country other than the one in which the client or bank is domiciled e.g. dollar accounts in Country.