5. Read the text and translate it into Russian.

The Bank of England

The Bank of England is Britain’s central bank. Founded in 1694, it is the world’s second oldest central bank, being six years younger than Sweden’s Riksbank. It was privately owned until it was nationalized in 1946.

The Governor, Deputy Governor, and 16 Directors who form the Court of Directors are appointed by the sovereign on the recommendation of the Prime Minister.

The Bank of England is responsible for the control of the banking system in the interests of the nation. Its main function is to act as the Government’s bank in the widest possible sense. It looks after the bank account of the Government just like an ordinary bank does for its customers. Into the account go all tax receipts and any other transfers of money from various banks, and out of it go all payments.

The Bank of England is a banker for the commercial banks and other financial institutions. The ordinary commercial banks keep about half of their cash assets on current accounts with the Bank of England which uses them for the day-to-day settlement of indebtedness between the banks. A lot of overseas central banks have accounts with the Bank of England to facilitate a wide variety of international transactions.

The Bank is the central note-issuing authority. New notes are issued and worn notes are withdrawn in very large numbers every day.

The Bank acts as the Government’s agent for the administration of exchange control and protects the gold and foreign exchange reserves.

It implements the Government policy in the money market and the loan market by raising or lowering Bank Rate.

Because of its important position in the financial affairs of the country the Bank gives useful financial advice to the Treasury to assist it in forecasts of the economic situation. The Bank also advises companies on capital structure and finance.

The style of work of the Bank of England is much admired in the world and gives the credit for the safe and successful growth of London as the world’s number one international centre.

6. Summarize the information of the unit and speak on the topic: Central Banking System

Unit 3 Commercial Banks

Commercial banks are businesses that trade in money. They receive and hold deposits, pay money according to customers’ instructions, lend money, etc. People use these banks for their everyday money matters.

They can open current accounts. This type of account is very popular as it enables people to keep their money in a safe place. It allows them to withdraw money at any time and it provides them with a card so that they don’t have to carry a lot of cash. A current account is used for everyday transactions such as paying bills, transferring money and so on. A customer can have an overdraft on this type of account but it pays no interest.

A deposit account is used for saving money. It’s not possible to have an overdraft on it but it earns interest for a customer.

Another function of commercial banks is to provide credits in the form of overdrafts and loans. Using an overdraft a customer can take out more money than he has in his account up to a certain limit agreed with the bank. He has to pay the money back when requested by the bank, and he also has to pay a relatively high rent of interest when he is overdrawn. For this reason, an overdraft is not the best option for long-term borrowing.

A loan is cheaper if a large amount of money has to be borrowed over a longer period. It is usually taken out for a car or a house, and is repaid in monthly instalments along with a fixed rate of interest. A loan used to buy a house or land is called a mortgage.

Other commercial bank services include: standing order facilities, where some amount of money is transferred from one account to another at regular intervals; opening letters of credit; advising their customers on making investments, for example in gold, property or shares; providing safe facilities for their customers to lock up valuable articles such as jewellery or important documents; foreign currency and travellers’ cheques transactions; paying out cash for example from cash dispensers.