A core banking system is the software used to support a bank’s most common transactions.
Elements of core banking include:
- Making and servicing loans
- Opening new accounts.
- Processing cash deposits and withdrawals.
- Processing payments and cheques.
- Calculating interest.
- Customer relationship management (CRM) activities.
- Managing customer accounts.
- Establishing criteria for minimum balances, interest rates, number of withdrawals allowed and so on.
- Establishing interest rates.
- Maintaining records for all the bank’s transactions.
Core banking functions differ depending on the specific type of bank. Retail banking, for example, is geared towards individual customers; wholesale banking is business conducted between banks; and securities trading involves the buying and selling of stocks, shares and so on. Core banking systems are often specialized for a particular type of banking. Products that are designed to deal with multiple types of core banking functions are sometimes referred to as universal banking systems.