State bank

A state bank is generally a financial institution that is chartered by a state. It differs from a reserve bank in that it does not necessarily control monetary policy (indeed, the state in question may have no legal capacity to create monetary policy), but instead usually offers only retail and commercial services.

A state bank that has been in operation for five years or less is called a de novo bank.

United States

In the United States the term "state bank" is used in contradistinction to "national bank." All national banks are chartered and regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. State banks are chartered and regulated by a state agency (often called the Department of Financial Institutions) in the state in which its headquarters are located. In addition, state banks that are members of the Federal Reserve are regulated by the Federal Reserve; state banks that are not members of the Federal Reserve are regulated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Therefore, almost every state bank has both a state and federal regulator. There are a handful of state banks which do not have FDIC insurance.

Australia

Each Australian state formerly had a state bank, but all have since been privatised. Although the Commonwealth Bank of Australia was to some extent a state bank by the above definition before privatisation, the word ‘state’ in Australia refers predominantly to the subnational entities.

List of state banks

• State Bank of Pakistan
• State Bank of India
• State Bank of New South Wales (now part of the Commonwealth Bank)
• State Bank of South Australia (now the Bank of South Australia, owned by St.George Bank)
• State Bank of Victoria (defunct)
• State Bank of Vietnam
• BankWest — the Bank of Western Australia, now owned by Commonwealth Bank