FINANCIAL SERVICES AND ITS AREAS OF WORK

Our society has seen an amazing revolution in the way we deal with our transactions. From the days of the barter to the present day of cashless digital currencies, it has gone through a transformation like nothing else. And the result is that the finance sector is one of the most prominent and healthy domains of the world. It has seen a great deal of journey from the metallic coins to the paper money, and from banknotes to cash, and then a newly reformed digitized version of it.

Not long before when China introduced the first circulating currency and then Sweden beginning to issue the same in the 16^th-17^th century time period. Then the world saw the rise of laissez- faire state in the 18^th century which made transactions free from the garb of government control and brought a lot more financial freedom; paving way to the emergence of new modules of transactions and cash system, thereby improving the standards of the finance industry and widening its scope. And with the introduction of technology, the 21^st century finance system has resulted into very efficient and reliable machinery.

And now the economic services area is a truly polished and organized area of human work. It includes various services and sectors within its framework and financial services too come under its ambit, and indeed it is the biggest influence in economic services.

FINANCIAL SERVICES

As the name suggests financial services deal with all the finance management and various services and transactions, deals etc. associated with it. More than being a part of the economic services, it is itself a kind of economic service that deals with the management of money.

And aside from managing money, it includes all the other businesses as well which also deals with monetary management.

The one most prominent period for this was the 90s period which saw two most important works by the governments was;

• Gramm-Leach-Bliley act by the United States which relaxed the regulations imposed upon the finance institutions, and allowed the consolidation of their services

• And in India, it was the liberalization-privatization-globalization period which completely overhauled the existing economic system of that time, giving the finance industry a new look.

The financial services not only include the organization of money, but also the various institutions that deals with the money too.

Following are some of the examples that are financial services;

• Banks
• Credit unions
• Insurance companies
• Credit card companies
• Housing finance companies
• Stock brokerage companies
• Investment funds
• Consumer-finance companies
• Mutual funds
• Accountancy

But the work that is undertaken by the financial institution is not restricted to only one particular direction. Using money, its range can be very wide, from hospitals to legal firms it can have its branches of work.

AREAS OF WORK

BANKS

Banks definitely remain one of the prime financial services and its scope and range is the most prevalent of all. It’s features include;

• Accepting deposit
• Keeping money safe
• Allowing withdrawals when required
• Providing various loans including personal loans, mortgage loans, commercial loans
• Discounting of bill of exchange
• Collection and payment of credit instruments
• Issuance of credit cards, debit cards
• Providing electronic fund transfers
• Providing checkbook

Then within its area it has

• Private banking
• Brokerages
• Exchange services
• Wire transfer

INSURANCE

It provides price comparisons for the services that can be offered for a human viewing his life.

• Health insurance
• Property insurance
• Casualty insurance

Some other services include

• ATM’s which is huge mode of financial services
• Bank cards which ease off the cash process
• Venture capital which is kind of equity insurance for the firms
• Conglomerates which is a financial services company covering a lot of sectors

Other than the formal financial services work which work directly as finance institutions, there are a lot of other indirect ways which comes under it too.

Legal Firms-dealing with a lot of corporate and financial institutions

Television-  especially the stock markets and the banks, updates recorded by various news channels too

Data figuration and statistical analysis

Scientific technology

Government regulations and compliances

Overall scenario and the future ahead

With the coming of the digital age, the way financial services deals have completely changed and it has made the work superfast and easier than ever before. All over the world the economic aspect has been revised substantially and no one want to lag behind in the frame when the opportunity is there to fly. US, Europe, China, India, every country has given prime importance to the finance sector.

India being one of the leading contenders of the economic world has surely seen a lot into how the developed nations work in that sphere. By shaping the direction of its economy to go for a cashless digital form is indeed a very progressive step, as this is the way ahead for the financial services sector.

Given the range and scope that it has, a financial service is organized like never before and it gives a great relief for the other institutions to work with great force.