Legal Definitions - respondent bank

A respondent bank is a financial establishment that exercises fiduciary powers, holds securities on behalf of beneficial owners, and deposits the securities for safekeeping with another bank, association, or other entity exercising fiduciary powers. For example, a mutual fund company may use a respondent bank to hold the securities of its investors.

Another example of a bank is a commercial bank, which is authorized to receive both demand and time deposits, engage in trust services, issue letters of credit, rent time-deposit boxes, and provide similar services. A national bank is a bank incorporated under federal law and governed by a charter approved by the Comptroller of the Currency. A savings bank makes primarily home mortgage and some other consumer loans, receives deposits and pays interest on them, and may offer checking accounts.

Overall, a bank is a financial institution that provides various services related to money, such as depositing, loaning, exchanging, or issuing money, and transmitting funds. Banks are regulated by state or federal banking authorities and are supervised and examined to ensure their compliance with the law.