BANIGEMAS', a t. of Java, 22 m. from the s. coast, in s. lat. 7° 33' 45", and e. long. 109° 19' 20'. It is situated at the opening of an extensive and fruitful valley on the left bank of the Serajo. It is well built, and carries on a considerable trade Pop. 9000. B. is the residence of a Dutch governor, and has a fort and garrison. It is the capital of a province of the same name, which produces coffee, sugar, indigo, rice, tobacco, etc.
A banker lends money at interest, usually for short periods on satisfactory security, and receives money on deposit, for which he sometimes allows interest and sometimes does not, but merely keeps it safely for the depositor. Some banks —notably the bank of Amsterdam, which, during the 17th c., was the great warehouse for bullion in Europe—were simply custodiers of coin and bullion lodged with them, for which they granted receipts transferable from hand to hand, entitling the owners to get back the gold or silver, in coin or bullion as originally deposited. But money lying in such banks was unproductive, and indeed entailed upon the owners considerable charges to pay the necessary expenses of management. In recent times the competition for money by borrowers has become so keen, and the outlets for lending it safely so utncr ous, that banks of this class are no longer needed. They have in fact all passed away, and the business of receiving money is now universally combined with that of lending it out. A banker does not hoard all the money deposited with him; he gives the greater portion out on loan. The advantages accruing to society from the operations of banking are thus immensely increased. A. banker receives from all around him the sums of money, both small and great, which would otherwise be useless in the coffers of the owners, and lends it to those who can employ it to advantage and could not otherwise obtain it. Capital hitherto lying useless and unproductive becomes through his agency useful and productive. The direct advantages arising from such transactions are con siderable. The banker, if the money is allowed to lie with him for some time, will pay the depositor interest upon it, will lend the amount to a borrower who will engage in some business transaction with it and make a profit thereby: and the banker himself will make a profit upon the difference between the interest allowed to the depositor and charged to the borrower. But besides the direct advantages, the indirect advantages are not less important. With the money thus lent out, manufacturers can purchase raw
material to be worked up, and procure food and clothing for their workmen; and traders can go into the markets and purchase commodities for resale, Commodities are thus more quickly turned to useful purposes, and a stimulus is given to the production of more. But a hanker deals not with the money only of others; he uses money belong ing to himself. This is his capital. Few would be found to deposit their money with a person known to possess none of his own. If he should lend deposits to those who fail to repay them—that is, make bad has the means from his capital of replac ing the deposits thus lost.
The services that a banker performs as the cash-keeper of his depositors are very great. In the case of persons not themselves in business. it is quite usual for a banker to make all their money-payments, beyond their small daily expenditure, and to receive the money payable to them. The money transactions of such persons are thus contained in their banker's books. This is effected by the depositor Firing a check or order ou his banker for the sums he has to pay; and by handing to him all the checks or orders the depositor receives for sums payable to himself. Suppose a person's income derived from dividends on government stock: he sends a power of attorney or authority to his banker to uplift the dividends for him. These are received by the banker as deposits, and are drawn out by the depositor as occasion occurs, by checks issued by the deposi tor to those to whom he requires to pay it away. So he may receive money due to him by a check given to him by his debtor. This check he sends to his banker, who will obtain payment. If both persons deal with the same banker, a simple transfer in his books will carry through the transaction; and if the bankers be different, and each has received, in the COUT:=4; of his business, as is always happening, a check on the other, there will be a set-off between them; and two payments will be made as well as two deposits, without trouble to the persons concerned, and without the employment of any money. But this mode of managing one's pecuniary transactions is not confined to the case of those not engaged in business; on the contrary, it is followed on a scale out of all proportion greater in carrying through the money transactions of those in business or trade in the principal industrial countries.