Employment of Funds by Commercial Banks Financial Statement Analysis

The reported financial statements for banks are somewhat different from most companies that investors analyze. For example, there are no accounts receivables or inventory to gauge whether sales are rising or falling. On top of that, there are several unique characteristics of bank financial statements that include how the balance sheet and income statement are laid out. However, once investors have a solid understanding of how banks earn revenue and how to analyze what’s driving that revenue, bank financial statements are relatively easy to grasp.

Make Money by Banks

Banks take in deposits from consumers and businesses and pay interest on some of the accounts. In turn, banks take the deposits and either invest those funds in securities or lend to companies and consumers. Since banks receive interest on their loans, their profits are derived from the spread between the rate they pay for the deposits and the rate they earn or receive from borrowers. Banks also earn interest income from investing their cash in short-term securities like rbi.

However, banks also earn revenue from fee income that they charge for their products and services that include wealth management advice, checking account fees, overdraft fees, ATM fees, interest and fees on credit cards. 

The primary business of a bank is managing the spread between deposits that it pays consumers and the rate it receives from their loans. In other words, when the interest that a bank earns from loans is greater than the interest it pays on deposits, it generates income from the interest rate spread. The size of this spread is a major determinant of the profit generated by a bank. Although we won’t delve into how rates are determined in the market, several factors drive rates including monetary policy set by the Reserve Bank.

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