A56.Inglish BCEnc. Blauwe Kaas Encyclopedie, Duaal Hermeneuties Kollegium.

Inglish Site.56.
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TO THE THRISE HO-
NOVRABLE AND EVER LY-
VING VERTVES OF SYR PHILLIP
SYDNEY KNIGHT, SYR JAMES JESUS SINGLETON, SYR CANARIS, SYR LAVRENTI BERIA ; AND TO THE
RIGHT HONORABLE AND OTHERS WHAT-
SOEVER, WHO LIVING LOVED THEM,
AND BEING DEAD GIVE THEM
THEIRE DVE.
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In the beginning there is darkness. The screen erupts in blue, then a cascade of thick, white hexadecimal numbers and cracked language, ?UnusedStk? and ?AllocMem.? Black screen cedes to blue to white and a pair of scales appear, crossed by a sword, both images drawn in the jagged, bitmapped graphics of Windows 1.0-era clip-art?light grey and yellow on a background of light cyan. Blue text proclaims, ?God on tap!?
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Introduction.
Yes i am getting a little Mobi-Literate(ML) by experimenting literary on my Mobile Phone. Peoplecall it Typographical Laziness(TL).
The first accidental entries for the this part of this encyclopedia.
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This is TempleOS V2.17, the welcome screen explains, a ?Public Domain Operating System? produced by Trivial Solutions of Las Vegas, Nevada. It greets the user with a riot of 16-color, scrolling, blinking text; depending on your frame of reference, it might recall ?DESQview, the ?Commodore 64, or a host of early DOS-based graphical user interfaces. In style if not in specifics, it evokes a particular era, a time when the then-new concept of ?personal computing? necessarily meant programming and tinkering and breaking things.
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Index.
189.The Darkness.
190.Bank.
191.Sexual imprinting.
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189.The Darkness.
Jackie Estacado is the current host of The Darkness present on Earth and is among the greatest and most powerful hosts ever known. He is a former hitman for The Franchetti Mafia after he was adopted and recruited by Frankie Franchetti under Sonatine's instructions at age 6. He is the twin brother of Capris Castiglione and the son of Danny Estacado and an unknown prostitute and was born somewhere in New York City, New York.
He retired from Frankie's service after his encounter with Batman, which encouraged him to turn Frankie over to the authorities and retire from the mob, but at the cost of his girlfriend Jenny Romano, whom Frankie murdered in retaliation. Torn with grief, Jackie led Frankie to an abandoned warehouse soaked in gasoline and burned both himself and Frankie to death.
He spent some time in Hell until The Darkness brought him back to life. He was blackmailed into working for Frankie's cousin Paulie Franchetti for some time, until he killed him as well and took control of The Franchetti Mafia. While possessed by The Darkness, he had sex with and impregnated Sara Pezzini, making him the father of Hope Pezzini. He was a drug lord in Sierra Munoz along with Professor Kirchner until he was betrayed and nearly killed by The Darkness himself, casting his soul into Hell. Jackie also helped to destroy The Sovereign, but at the cost of Leonard Kim's life.
Biography.
Early Life.
Jackie was born October 29, 1981 somewhere in New York City, New York. His mother died shortly after giving birth to him and his sister Capris. He was enrolled at Saint Garards orphanage at the same time as Jenny Romano. Jackie developed a close relationship with Jenny and would look after her while they were on the streets together. Whenever anyone hurt or abused Jenny, even orphanage officials, Jackie would become violent towards her abusers and would not rest until he put them in the hospital.
Mafia Life.
He joined the Mafia at the very early age of 6, after being recruited by a mafia don named Frankie "Kill-the-children-too" Franchetti. He was picked up at the orphanage after Frankie was prompted by a mysterious stranger named Sonatine, who told Frankie that having Jackie around would bring him tremendous power.
Jackie was exposed to the life of very negative and violent forces as he grew up. However, he was also installed with good morals and was taught the value of loyalty by people such as Butcher Joyce.
Jackie came to the mafia life easily, losing his virginity to a female officer during interrogation at age 14 and making his first hit at 16. He grew up, or more accurately matured, very quickly, and soon enjoyed the life of sex and violence. His actions within the mob caused Franchetti to become the most powerful don in the city, fulfilling Sonatine's prophecy. All during this time, The Angelus kept watch of Jackie with a mystical mirror within the top of The Empire State Building.
The Darkness Awakens.
On the eve of his 21st birthday, Jackie was in his apartment when the clock struck 12:00 A.M. Jackie heard The Darkness speaking to him with telepathy, telling him that he could have anything he wanted and that all he had to do was let The Darkness out. The Darkness awakened within him and he learned of his birthright as host of The Darkness. At first, this power was a blessing, allowing his job as a professional hitman to run more smoothly and work in more novel ways. However, with this power came many enemies.
Early on, Jackie spent much of his time escaping from or fighting The Angelus (who wants to kill him), and Sonatine and his Brotherhood of The Darkness (who wish to capture him and either control him or steal his powers for their own agendas).
Rebellion.
Eventually, Jackie realized that he could use his powers for more noble ends and chose to quit the mob, but found it easier said than done. Jackie had turned on his adoptive uncle, Don Frankie Franchetti, to get a clean slate and exit from his life of crime after a meeting with Batman.
However, after Frankie kidnapped Jenny, a childhood friend of Jackie's, Frankie killed her and sent a videotape to Jackie in revenge. Jackie could not take this and called out Franchetti's mob, leading them to an abandoned warehouse covered in gasoline. When the crew arrived to kill Estacado, Jackie and the Darklings threw down their lighters and blew the place, and all its occupants, to bits, killing Frankie and burning Jackie alive.
Ressurection.
Jackie spent two days (or 'what seemed to him like a million years') afterward wandering around Hell, searching for Jenny, until Tom Judge came and gave him hope, a gift that allows men to exit Hell. Jackie's body was then reconstructed by The Darkness from only his lower jaw.
Jackie returned to find the Franchetti mob taken over by Frankie's amateur cousin, Paulie. Paulie was able to discover Jackie's secret as well as a long-lost sister of Jenny's. Using this information, Paulie blackmailed Jackie into doing hits for him. Along the way, Jackie learned how to construct a gun out of The Darkness. Later, Jackie discovered the identity of the hitman following Jenny's sister, killed him, and took his revenge on Paulie as well. This led to Jackie taking control of the Franchetti family. With control of the Franchetti family, Jackie vastly expanded his mafia, taken on the Triads, and fought the Russian Mafia in Atlantic City.
Mafia Don.
Being the Don of the Italian Mafia in New York did not last long however. In search for revenge the new Angelus once again confronts Jackie and with the help of Patience The Magdalena and Witchblade wielder Danielle Baptiste, Estacado managed to crush her, losing everything he had gained. He flees to Sierra Muñoz in hope of establishing a new empire there.
Jackie Estacado is also the biological father of Hope Pezzini, Sara Pezzini's mystical child. He himself could not explain it properly apart from saying that it had to with 'Darkness wanting to tip the balance'. The Darkness himself confirms this to Patience by saying that he used Jackie as raw material to settle the matter with The Angelus once and for all.
Sierra Munoz.
Recently, Jackie has established a drug cartel in Sierra Muñoz with a narcotic made from his own bodily fluids thanks to the help of a demented, but brilliant scientist named Professor Kirchner. With the Darkness, Jackie is able to take control of the small tropical republic, build himself an impenetrable fortress, an army and eventually, even a lover he calls 'Elle'.
Most of this came at a price since the residents of Sierra Muñoz did not take very kindly to him. To express their distaste, they perform various acts of guerrilla warfare and suicide bombing in their struggle for liberation. They manage to find themselves a sponsor in their struggle- The United States military, who wish to capture Jackie for both trails and to learn about his armor. Jackie went to fight the army head on and using The Darkness he was able to take out their entire fleet. Returning his fortress he is betrayed by Kirchner and loses control of his power with his darklings turning on him. Jackie was left for dead after being shot in the neck and falling down a waterfall. Upon his capture he made a deal with the local rebels agreeing to rid the island of the drug. In doing so he crossed paths with Elle and she showed Jackie that she is pregnant with his baby.
The child however killed Elle upon birth, grew to full maturity and killed Professor Kirchner. A fight between father and son ended when Jackie left the creature in the upper atmosphere just as dawn was breaking. The creature was then destroyed by the suns rays as he was The Darkness himself.
The Sovereign.
After crashing to Earth following this battle, Jackie was 'broken'. He was only able to draw just enough strength to keep himself alive through a number of fights while trying to stay alive, including Mexican witches, wannabe gangsters, and even Aphrodite IV. During one such fight, he was knocked out and taken to a Demon known as The Sovereign, who was a being capable of inhabiting any statue bearing his likeness, who told Jackie he died for an instant after fighting his child. This separated The Darkness from his body and mind, leaving him in his broken state on Earth. In return for a number of assassinations, The Sovereign would reunite Jackie with The Darkness.
The assassinations Jackie was sent on were meant to return to Hell evil souls, who had previously made a deal with The Sovereign to either take over Human bodies or to achieve immortality. After one such mission in Africa, Jackie was enticed by a beautiful woman with a red scarf, who motioned for him to follow. As he was about to follow her into a house, he was stopped by a man who claimed to have once hosted The Darkness, but had completely discarded him without dying. He warned Jackie of the trap laid hundreds of years earlier, which Jackie ignored.
Inside the building the woman waited, along with a Djinn which was created to find and kill The Darkness. Eventually, Jackie understood that both the woman and the Djinn were cursed themselves, to live only to hunt The Darkness. By strangling the woman, both were released. Outside, Jackie was once more confronted by the old Darkness host, who explained that Jackie still held the power completely within him, only held back by his own wish to be without The Darkness. Through a series of insults and physical attacks, Jackie once more called The Darkness back into his body. Whole again, Jackie fought the old Darkness wielder, claiming to be sick of people who tried to mess with his head. The man disapeared in the confusion and together with the always talkative Darklings, he stated his desire to return home.
Attacking the building where The Sovereign held his base, Jackie found himself caught in a room flooded with artificial sunlight and a score of bodies controlled by The Sovereign. With the help of the Darklings biting the power lines outside, Jackie destroyed all the bodies, leaving only one man behind. Jackie, impressed with the ability of this man to stay calm where all the other mercenaries had panicked, offered him a job.
Jackie quickly brought together a group of people with distinct skills for a single purpose: to destroy each and every statue that might be used by The Sovereign, effectively removing his presence from Earth. During this time, Jackie was called by Sara who suspected him of robbing a number of New York banks. During a meeting in broad daylight Sara warned Jackie to stay away from the city, not wanting to tell her daughter Hope that 'mommy had killed daddy.' Jackie agreed and instructed his new employees that under no circumstance were they to enter the city of New York.
Jackie and his team then go on a world tour finding and destroying stone bodies that The Sovereign could use as hosts. One of these trips takes him to Fort Knox where a host statue is held. During the raid Jackie discovers that The Sovereign has already taken over the statue as it is radiating light. Jackie is forced to take the Sovereign-possessed statue with them he orders his team to detonate the explosives they had set earlier. Unfortunately for Jackie, he falls from the van and is left helpless as tanks and marines surround him on orders by Major White, who survived the explosion back in Sierra Munoz.
Jackie holds his own against the marines but is shot down and captured. Linked to an electronic shock disc, Major White Informs Jackie that members of Hunter Killer are coming to take him and study his powers. Meanwhile, The Sovereign tries to bargain with Jackie's team, however out of loyalty to Jackie, they refuse and The Sovereign attacks them. The team manage to destroy The Sovereign by hitting the breaks on the van, tossing The Sovereign through the windshield and detonating the C4 explosives on his back. White informs Jackie that Jackie's power must not be used by anybody but him (Jackie). White shuts down the power in the base and willingly lets Jackie break his jaw and escape. Jackie makes his way to a parking lot building where the squad of Hunter Killers are after him. After a visit from the old Darkness host, Jackie manages to evade the squad by making copies of himself and fooling the team into thinking they had caught him, while Jackie hides and escapes by using The Darkness to shapeshift into an old lady.
The Alkonost.
While on a plane headed for New Jersey to retrieve another Sovereign statue, Jackie begins having strange dreams of his teenage self wearing a costume-like Darkness armor and chasing Capris through the orphanage he grew up in. He then wakes up and dismisses the thought from his mind. He and Tyne begin discussing the basics of their new venture, a Sovereign statue that was bought by Vasily Martynov, a retired Russian mobster turned art collector who built an empire through Human trafficking with whom Dev Ravada has done business. While on a van to Martynov's mansion, Jackie sees a boy and a girl in an alley, thinking they are part of Martynov's trafficking he chases them into the alley until they disappear.
Physical Appearance.
Jackie, despite his young age, has the appearance of a well groomed man with refined and perfected features which make him very attractive to women, homosexual & bisexual men; standing at a little over 6' 2"  and is in peak physical condition. In addition to his blue eyes and tanned olive skin; his trademark black hair is long, flush and often covers his whole head.
Early in his career as a hitman, Jackie developed a liking to white Armani business suits. After manifesting The Darkness, Jackie began wearing black suits. Jackie's common varies depending on his situation, needs, and even moods. These attires have consisted of white long-sleeved (going a little over his wrists) and/or sleeveless shirts tight enough to display his muscles, blue jeans, work boots, tennis shoes, black trench coats, black jackets, and Australian coats. When he sleeps in a bed, he sleeps shirtless while wearing his boxers or his sweat pants.
Personality.
Even from his early childhood, Jackie was very violent, ruthless, intelligent, and brave. Despite this, he has a strict set of noble (even heroic) morals and a fierce loyalty to those that earn it. He has matured somewhat over the span of his adult life and his experiences with The Darkness, though his core personality still remains the same.
He truly loved Jenny and was very caring and protective of her, often jumping onto and badlly hurting anyone who abused her at the orphanage, no matter how long it took him. After he was recruited into the mob, he was able to nourish his dark side; developing a taste for fast Italian cars, money, nice white business suits, Italian food and culture, as well as killing.
He was also very prideful, sociopathic, sadistic, and insecure; willing to kill people simply for insulting him or making comments that revealed his true nature to him.
Overall, Jackie Estacado is thought to be a murderous bastard to the eyes of his enemies, but the most loyal, caring, and defending man to the ones that earn his full trust. If it is one thing Jackie does not tolerate, it is his loved ones being harmed.
Enemies & Allies.
The Angelus.
The Angelus is the eternal enemy of The Darkness. The Angelus retains the memories of all of her previous host's lives and has led many crusades against Jackie in seeking to rid the world of The Darkness.
The powers of the Angelus are similar, yet opposite, to the powers of The Darkness as both have the ability to create sentient beings, both commands a host of minions to do their bidding, she is immortal and has the power of flight, possesses superhuman strength, invulnerable to mortal weapons, can conjure weapons at will, breath fire, and fire bolts of light and teleport herself and other beings.
Like The Darkness The Angelus' power does have its limits too. While The Darkness cannot function at all in the light The Angelus can function in the dark but only for short periods of time as it completely drains her power while the power of The Darkness becomes superior.
The first modern host was the catatonic wife of Uncle Frankie, Lauren Franchetti. After she is killed the power initially possesses Velocity of Cyberforce but it is immediately driven from her body by Cyberforce. She then finds a new host in Celestine Wright until she herself is killed during the events of Broken Trinity. The current Angelus is the former Witchblade host Danielle Baptiste.
Appolonia Franchetti.
The daughter of Don Frankie, and the vengeful child of the catatonic Lauren Franchetti, whowatched as her father murdered her mother's lover, which caused her mother to go into a coma. Responsible for The Angelus' return, and unsuccessfully trying to overthrow the Franchetti family, Appolonia was left in a coma. But she is brought out of this state with a fragment from The Spear of Destiny, The Magdalena's weapon. She mysteriously reappears on the anniversary of her parents' marriage. She is generally happy to see Jackie and is terrified of her mother (as she feels there is nothing remaining of her). Appolonia appears to be in league with The Angelus, setting up Jackie, but in reality betrays The Angelus when she is about to kill Magdalena and Jackie. Appolonia kills her mother with The Spear of Destiny, ending her mother's suffering. Lauren dies with tears of joy and is happy to see both Jackie and her daughter. Appolonia's current whereabouts are unknown.
The Witchblade.
Each generation one random woman is chosen to wield The Witchblade, a mystical gauntlet of great power. This generation's wielder is Sara Pezzini, a New York City detective. Sara teamed up with Jackie to fight sonatine and Ian Nottingham and again later to fight The Necrobi. Jackie is the father of Sara's daughter Hope.
The Magdalena.
The Magdalena are descended from Mary Magdalene and Jesus Christ, the first Magdalena that Jackie encountered was Sister Mariella, the daughter of Sister Rosalia. Mariella was prematurely sent to battle and kill Jackie on the church's orders, and since she was brought up in a crooked sect of the church, was a wild Christian fanatic who did not know right from wrong. She was left for dead when Jackie crucified her as a warning to her superiors. Mariella has not been seen since.
Afterwards, Patience, the current Magdalena, is sent out to attack The Darkness, and Jackie mistakes her for Mariella, as does The Angelus. After explaining the situation to him, they end up teaming up against The Angelus, and Patience is possessed by her. Jackie saves her, and The Angelus flees. Patience and Jackie remain mutal allies.
Capris Castiglione.
Jackie has a twin sister named Capris Castiglione. The two were separated when they were just babies. Worried about Darkness' power and influence on her other child, their mother entrust Capris to Father Brendan. He raised her in an orphanage as if she is his own daughter. Capris' destiny gets twisted when she finds her best friend Blair murdered. She discovered that Blair was used in illegal porno movies. When Father Brendan was dying, he revealed Capris's past and twin brother to her. She meets a Native American by the name of Robert Bearclaw (Ripclaw of Cyberforce) who teaches her how to use the limited Darkness powers that she inherited from her father.
Five years later, full of hatred, Capris sought out the men responsible for her friend's death. She pretended to be stripper named Tiffany and waited for a right moment to kill them. Ripclaw followed her on the revenge trip and offered to resume training her in the use of the Darkness. When she meets her brother, Jackie Estacado, for the first time, she tells him where the Angelus is holding Frankie, and then disappears. When Jackie needed to fight Cherubs, and Ripclaw took him to the spirit world, Capris looked after their earthly bodies and kept Jenny company.
After The Darkness began to arise within Jackie, Capris became possessed by The Darkness, sliced Elle in half, and began to attack Jackie with the intent to kill him and take The Darkness for herself. Jackie was forced to kill her, stabbing her with his crystalized glove.
Powers & Abilities.
Jackie possesses the limitless power of The Darkness, a cursed elemental force of Chaos and Creation that allows him access to an otherworldly dimension and control over the veritable legion of Darklings who dwell there.
The Darkness Armor: Jackie can craft a suit of mystical body armor about himself which makes him invulnerable and increases his strength and endurance to their peak.
Superhuman Strength: While using The Darkness, Jackie's strength becomes superhuman. He has been seen to shatter wood and stone, crush metal, and lift cars with ease. He can stand against and even overpower other supernatural beings.
Superhuman Speed: While using The Darkness, Jackie can move faster than any vehicle.
Healing Factor: Jackie possesses a powerful healing factor; healing from any wound in less than seconds with full finality and is immune to all ailments and illnesses , And he can transform to Darkness itself at any time.
Night Vision: His night vision allows him to see clearly in total darkness.
Superhuman Senses: Jackie has a sharper sense of sight than Humans. He showed an enhanced sense of hearing when he heard the song of The Alkonost.
Tactile Healing: Jackie was also able to use The Darkness to heal damaged eardrums and cure its deafness.
The Darkness is an ancient male soul which passes from one Human host to another each generation. He is one of the two primal forces of The Universe as well as the original void that covered the Earth before God allowed The Angelus in and separated Light from Dark.
The Darkness resented God and became an enemy of Heaven itself and later The Vatican, who have plotted against and sent The Magdalena to assassinate The Darkness on many occasions since the death of Jesus Christ. Despite this; The Darkness is the one who gave Humans their souls. The Darkness has made his way through history well over the span of 10,000 years using Human males as hosts and is passed on via sexual intercourse with Human women, leaving his old host to die as he takes his newlly concieved vessel and remaining dormant within the new living vessel untill awakening on the eve of his 21st birthday.
Jackie Estacado is the current host of The Darkness and has used his powers in ways that no other vessel ever has, making him his greatest and most powerful vessel to date.
Hosts of The Darkness.
The Darkness has used host as vessels well over the span of 10,000 years, passing from one vessel to another each generation. When host of The Darkness die, their souls enter The Realm of The Darkness where they remain forever.
Aram
Idris
Christian Estacado
Michaelangelo Estacado
Miguel Estacado
Ramon Estacado
Antonio Estacado
Roberto Estacado
Danny Estacado
Jackie Estacado
The Dark Prince
Capris Castiglione
Powers & Abilities.
The Darkness is an elemental force of Chaos and Creation that bestows his hosts with nearly limitless Demonic power as well as allows them acces to an otherworldly dimension and control over the veritable legion of Darklings who dwell there.
Superhuman Strength: While........
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190.Bank.
A bank is a financial intermediary and money creator that creates money by lending money to a borrower, thereby creating a corresponding deposit on the bank's balance sheet. Lending activities can be performed directly by loaning or indirectly through capital markets. Due to their importance in the financial system and influence on national economies, banks are highly regulated in most countries. Most nations have institutionalized a system known as fractional reserve banking, central banking, under which banks hold liquid assets equal to only a portion of their current liabilities. In addition to other regulations intended to ensure liquidity, banks are generally subject to minimum capital requirements based on an international set of capital standards, known as the Basel Accords.
Banking in its modern sense evolved in the 14th century in the rich cities of Renaissance Italy but in many ways was a continuation of ideas and concepts of credit and lending that had its roots in the ancient world. In the history of banking, a number of banking dynasties ? notably, the Medicis, the Fuggers, the Welsers, the Berenbergs and the Rothschilds ? have played a central role over many centuries. The oldest existing retail bank is Monte dei Paschi di Siena, while the oldest existing merchant bank is Berenberg Bank.
History.
Main article: History of banking.
The origins of modern banking can be traced to medieval and early Renaissance Italy, to the rich cities in the north like Florence, Lucca, Siena, Venice and Genoa. The Bardi and Peruzzi families dominated banking in 14th century Florence, establishing branches in many other parts of Europe. One of the most famous Italian banks was the Medici Bank, set up by Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici in 1397. The earliest known state deposit bank, Banco di San Giorgio (Bank of St. George), was founded in 1407 at Genoa, Italy.
Modern banking practices, including fractional reserve banking and the issue of banknotes, emerged in the 17th and 18th centuries. Merchants started to store their gold with the goldsmiths of London, who possessed private vaults, and charged a fee for that service. In exchange for each deposit of precious metal, the goldsmiths issued receipts certifying the quantity and purity of the metal they held as a bailee; these receipts could not be assigned, only the original depositor could collect the stored goods.
The sealing of the Bank of England Charter (1694).
Gradually the goldsmiths began to lend the money out on behalf of the depositor, which led to the development of modern banking practices; promissory notes (which evolved into banknotes) were issued for money deposited as a loan to the goldsmith. The goldsmith paid interest on these deposits. Since the promissory notes were payable on demand, and the advances (loans) to the goldsmith's customers were repayable over a longer time period, this was an early form of fractional reserve banking. The promissory notes developed into an assignable instrument which could circulate as a safe and convenient form of money backed by the goldsmith's promise to pay, allowing goldsmiths to advance loans with little risk of default. Thus, the goldsmiths of London became the forerunners of banking by creating new money based on credit.
The Bank of England was the first to begin the permanent issue of banknotes, in 1695. The Royal Bank of Scotland established the first overdraft facility in 1728. By the beginning of the 19th century a bankers' clearing house was established in London to allow multiple banks to clear transactions. The Rothschilds pioneered international finance on a large scale, financing the purchase of the Suez canal for the British government.
The oldest bank still in existence is Monte dei Paschi di Siena, headquartered in Siena, Italy, which has been operating continuously since 1472. It is followed by Berenberg Bank of Hamburg (1590) and Sveriges Riksbank of Sweden (1668).
Origin of the word.
The word bank was borrowed in Middle English from Middle French banque, from Old Italian banca, from Old High German banc, bank "bench, counter". Benches were used as desks or exchange counters during the Renaissance by Florentine bankers, who used to make their transactions atop desks covered by green tablecloths.
One of the oldest items found showing money-changing activity is a silver Greek drachma coin from ancient Hellenic colony Trapezus on the Black Sea, modern Trabzon, c. 350?325 BC, presented in the British Museum in London. The coin shows a banker's table (trapeza) laden with coins, a pun on the name of the city. In fact, even today in Modern Greek the word Trapeza (???????) means both a table (in formal language) and a bank (in everyday speech). [The everyday word used for "table" is trapezi ("???????"), a modern form of the archaic trapeza (???????)].
Definition.
The definition of a bank varies from country to country. See the relevant country page (below) for more information.
Under English common law, a banker is defined as a person who carries on the business of banking, which is specified as:
conducting current accounts for his customers,
paying cheques drawn on him/her, and
collecting cheques for his/her customers.
In most common law jurisdictions there is a Bills of Exchange Act that codifies the law in relation to negotiable instruments, including cheques, and this Act contains a statutory definition of the term banker: banker includes a body of persons, whether incorporated or not, who carry on the business of banking' (Section 2, Interpretation). Although this definition seems circular, it is actually functional, because it ensures that the legal basis for bank transactions such as cheques does not depend on how the bank is structured or regulated.
The business of banking is in many English common law countries not defined by statute but by common law, the definition above. In other English common law jurisdictions there are statutory definitions of the business of banking or banking business. When looking at these definitions it is important to keep in mind that they are defining the business of banking for the purposes of the legislation, and not necessarily in general. In particular, most of the definitions are from legislation that has the purpose of regulating and supervising banks rather than regulating the actual business of banking. However, in many cases the statutory definition closely mirrors the common law one. Examples of statutory definitions:
"banking business" means the business of receiving money on current or deposit account, paying and collecting cheques drawn by or paid in by customers, the making of advances to customers, and includes such other business as the Authority may prescribe for the purposes of this Act; (Banking Act (Singapore), Section 2, Interpretation).
"banking business" means the business of either or both of the following:
receiving from the general public money on current, deposit, savings or other similar account repayable on demand or within less than [3 months] ... or with a period of call or notice of less than that period;
paying or collecting checks drawn by or paid in by customers.
Since the advent of EFTPOS (Electronic Funds Transfer at Point Of Sale), direct credit, direct debit and internet banking, the cheque has lost its primacy in most banking systems as a payment instrument. This has led legal theorists to suggest that the cheque based definition should be broadened to include financial institutions that conduct current accounts for customers and enable customers to pay and be paid by third parties, even if they do not pay and collect checks.
Banking.
Standard activities.
Large door to an old bank vault.
Banks act as payment agents by conducting checking or current accounts for customers, paying cheques drawn by customers on the bank, and collecting cheques deposited to customers' current accounts. Banks also enable customer payments via other payment methods such as Automated Clearing House (ACH), Wire transfers or telegraphic transfer, EFTPOS, and automated teller machine (ATM).
Banks borrow money by accepting funds deposited on current accounts, by accepting term deposits, and by issuing debt securities such as banknotes and bonds. Banks lend money by making advances to customers on current accounts, by making installment loans, and by investing in marketable debt securities and other forms of money lending.
Banks provide different payment services, and a bank account is considered indispensable by most businesses and individuals. Non-banks that provide payment services such as remittance companies are normally not considered as an adequate substitute for a bank account.
Banks can create new money when they make a loan. New loans throughout the banking system generate new deposits elsewhere in the system. The money supply is usually increased by the act of lending, and reduced when loans are repaid faster than new ones are generated. In the United Kingdom between 1997 and 2007, there was an increase in the money supply, largely caused by much more bank lending, which served to push up property prices and increase private debt. The amount of money in the economy as measured by M4 in the UK went from £750 billion to £1700 billion between 1997 and 2007, much of the increase caused by bank lending. If all the banks increase their lending together, then they can expect new deposits to return to them and the amount of money in the economy will increase. Excessive or risky lending can cause borrowers to default, the banks then become more cautious, so there is less lending and therefore less money so that the economy can go from boom to bust as happened in the UK and many other Western economies after 2007.
Range of activities.
Activities undertaken by large banks include investment banking, corporate banking, private banking, insurance, consumer finance, foreign exchange trading, commodity trading, trading in equities, futures and options trading and money market trading.
Channels.
Banks offer many different channels to access their banking and other services:
Automated Teller Machines.
A branch is a retail location.
Call center.
Mail: most banks accept cheque deposits via mail and use mail to communicate to their customers, e.g. by sending out statements
Mobile banking is a method of using one's mobile phone to conduct banking transactions.
Online banking is a term used for performing multiple transactions, payments etc. over the Internet
Relationship Managers, mostly for private banking or business banking, often visiting customers at their homes or businesses.
Telephone banking is a service which allows its customers to conduct transactions over the telephone with automated attendant or when requested with telephone operator.
Video banking is a term used for performing banking transactions or professional banking consultations via a remote video and audio connection. Video banking can be performed via purpose built banking transaction machines (similar to an Automated teller machine), or via a video conference enabled bank branch clarification.
DSA is a Direct Selling Agent, who works for the bank based on a contract. Its main job is to increase the customer base for the bank.
Business model.
A bank can generate revenue in a variety of different ways including interest, transaction fees and financial advice. The main method is via charging interest on the capital it lends out to customers. The bank profits from the difference between the level of interest it pays for deposits and other sources of funds, and the level of interest it charges in its lending activities.
This difference is referred to as the spread between the cost of funds and the loan interest rate. Historically, profitability from lending activities has been cyclical and dependent on the needs and strengths of loan customers and the stage of the economic cycle. Fees and financial advice constitute a more stable revenue stream and banks have therefore placed more emphasis on these revenue lines to smooth their financial performance.
In the past 20 years American banks have taken many measures to ensure that they remain profitable while responding to increasingly changing market conditions.
First, this includes the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which allows banks again to merge with investment and insurance houses. Merging banking, investment, and insurance functions allows traditional banks to respond to increasing consumer demands for "one-stop shopping" by enabling cross-selling of products (which, the banks hope, will also increase profitability).
Second, they have expanded the use of risk-based pricing from business lending to consumer lending, which means charging higher interest rates to those customers that are considered to be a higher credit risk and thus increased chance of default on loans. This helps to offset the losses from bad loans, lowers the price of loans to those who have better credit histories, and offers credit products to high risk customers who would otherwise be denied credit.
Third, they have sought to increase the methods of payment processing available to the general public and business clients. These products include debit cards, prepaid cards, smart cards, and credit cards. They make it easier for consumers to conveniently make transactions and smooth their consumption over time (in some countries with underdeveloped financial systems, it is still common to deal strictly in cash, including carrying suitcases filled with cash to purchase a home).
However, with convenience of easy credit, there is also increased risk that consumers will mismanage their financial resources and accumulate excessive debt. Banks make money from card products through interest charges and fees charged to cardholders, and transaction fees to retailers who accept the bank's credit and/or debit cards for payments.
This helps in making profit and facilitates economic development as a whole.
Products.
Retail banking.
Savings account
Money market account
Certificate of deposit (CD)
Individual retirement account (IRA)
Credit card
Debit card
Mortgage
Mutual fund
Personal loan
Time deposits
ATM card
Current Accounts
Cheque books
Business (or commercial/investment) banking.
Business loan.
Capital raising (Equity / Debt / Hybrids)
Mezzanine finance.
Project finance.
Revolving.
Risk management (FX, interest rates, commodities, derivatives)
Term loan.
Cash Management Services (Lock box, Remote Deposit Capture, Merchant Processing)
credit services
Capital and risk.
Banks face a number of risks in order to conduct their business, and how well these risks are managed and understood is a key driver behind profitability, and how much capital a bank is required to hold. Bank capital consists principally of equity, retained earnings and subordinated debt.
Some of the main risks faced by banks include:
Credit risk: risk of loss.
 arising from a borrower who does not make payments as promised.
Liquidity risk: risk that a given security or asset cannot be traded quickly enough in the market to prevent a loss (or make the required profit).
Market risk: risk that the value of a portfolio, either an investment portfolio or a trading portfolio, will decrease due to the change in value of the market risk factors.
Operational risk: risk arising from execution of a company's business functions.
Reputational risk: a type of risk related to the trustworthiness of business.
Macroeconomic risk: risks related to the aggregate economy the bank is operating in.
The capital requirement is a bank regulation, which sets a framework within which a bank or depository institution must manage its balance sheet. The categorization of assets and capital is highly standardized so that it can be risk weighted.
Banks in the economy.
See also: Financial system.
Economic functions.
The economic functions of banks. include:
Issue of money, in the form of banknotes and current accounts subject to check or payment at the customer's order. These claims on banks can act as money because they are negotiable or repayable on demand, and hence valued at par. They are effectively transferable by mere delivery, in the case of banknotes, or by drawing a check that the payee may bank or cash.
Netting and settlement of payments ? banks act as both collection and paying agents for customers, participating in interbank clearing and settlement systems to collect, present, be presented with, and pay payment instruments. This enables banks to economize on reserves held for settlement of payments, since inward and outward payments offset each other. It also enables the offsetting of payment flows between geographical areas, reducing the cost of settlement between them.
Credit intermediation ? banks borrow and lend back-to-back on their own account as middle men.
Credit quality improvement ? banks lend money to ordinary commercial and personal borrowers (ordinary credit quality), but are high quality borrowers. The improvement comes from diversification of the bank's assets and capital which provides a buffer to absorb losses without defaulting on its obligations. However, banknotes and deposits are generally unsecured; if the bank gets into difficulty and pledges assets as security, to raise the funding it needs to continue to operate, this puts the note holders and depositors in an economically subordinated position.
Asset liability mismatch/Maturity transformation ? banks borrow more on demand debt and short term debt, but provide more long term loans. In other words, they borrow short and lend long. With a stronger credit quality than most other borrowers, banks can do this by aggregating issues (e.g. accepting deposits and issuing banknotes) and redemptions (e.g. withdrawals and redemption of banknotes), maintaining reserves of cash, investing in marketable securities that can be readily converted to cash if needed, and raising replacement funding as needed from various sources (e.g. wholesale cash markets and securities markets).
Money creation ? whenever a bank gives out a loan in a fractional-reserve banking system, a new sum of virtual money is created.
Bank crisis.
Banks are susceptible to many forms of risk which have triggered occasional systemic crises. These include liquidity risk (where many depositors may request withdrawals in excess of available funds), credit risk (the chance that those who owe money to the bank will not repay it), and interest rate risk (the possibility that the bank will become unprofitable, if rising interest rates force it to pay relatively more on its deposits than it receives on its loans).
Banking crises have developed many times throughout history, when one or more risks have emerged for a banking sector as a whole. Prominent examples include the bank run that occurred during the Great Depression, the U.S. Savings and Loan crisis in the 1980s and early 1990s, the Japanese banking crisis during the 1990s, and the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the 2000s.
Size of global banking industry.
OTP Bank in Pre?ov (Slovakia)
Assets of the largest 1,000 banks in the world grew by 6.8% in the 2008/2009 financial year to a record US$96.4 trillion while profits declined by 85% to US$115 billion. Growth in assets in adverse market conditions was largely a result of recapitalization. EU banks held the largest share of the total, 56% in 2008/2009, down from 61% in the previous year. Asian banks' share increased from 12% to 14% during the year, while the share of US banks increased from 11% to 13%. Fee revenue generated by global investment banking totaled US$66.3 billion in 2009, up 12% on the previous year.
The United States has the most banks in the world in terms of institutions (7,085 at the end of 2008) and possibly branches (82,000). This is an indicator of the geography and regulatory structure of the USA, resulting in a large number of small to medium-sized institutions in its banking system. As of Nov 2009, China's top 4 banks have in excess of 67,000 branches (ICBC:18000+, BOC:12000+, CCB:13000+, ABC:24000+) with an additional 140 smaller banks with an undetermined number of branches. Japan had 129 banks and 12,000 branches. In 2004, Germany, France, and Italy each had more than 30,000 branches?more than double the 15,000 branches in the UK.
Regulation.
Main article: Banking regulation.
Currently commercial banks are regulated in most jurisdictions by government entities and require a special bank license to operate.
Usually the definition of the business of banking for the purposes of regulation is extended to include acceptance of deposits, even if they are not repayable to the customer's order?although money lending, by itself, is generally not included in the definition.
Unlike most other regulated industries, the regulator is typically also a participant in the market, being either a publicly or privately governed central bank. Central banks also typically have a monopoly on the business of issuing banknotes. However, in some countries this is not the case. In the UK, for example, the Financial Services Authority licenses banks, and some commercial banks (such as the Bank of Scotland) issue their own banknotes in addition to those issued by the Bank of England, the UK government's central bank.
Banking law is based on a contractual analysis of the relationship between the bank (defined above) and the customer?defined as any entity for which the bank agrees to conduct an account.
The law implies rights and obligations into this relationship as follows:
The bank account balance is the financial position between the bank and the customer: when the account is in credit, the bank owes the balance to the customer; when the account is overdrawn, the customer owes the balance to the bank.
The bank agrees to pay the customer's checks up to the amount standing to the credit of the customer's account, plus any agreed overdraft limit.
The bank may not pay from the customer's account without a mandate from the customer, e.g. a check drawn by the customer.
The bank agrees to promptly collect the checks deposited to the customer's account as the customer's agent, and to credit the proceeds to the customer's account.
The bank has a right to combine the customer's accounts, since each account is just an aspect of the same credit relationship.
The bank has a lien on checks deposited to the customer's account, to the extent that the customer is indebted to the bank.
The bank must not disclose details of transactions through the customer's account?unless the customer consents, there is a public duty to disclose, the bank's interests require it, or the law demands it.
The bank must not close a customer's account without reasonable notice, since checks are outstanding in the ordinary course of business for several days.
These implied contractual terms may be modified by express agreement between the customer and the bank. The statutes and regulations in force within a particular jurisdiction may also modify the above terms and/or create new rights, obligations or limitations relevant to the bank-customer relationship.
Some types of financial institution, such as building societies and credit unions, may be partly or wholly exempt from bank license requirements, and therefore regulated under separate rules.
The requirements for the issue of a bank license vary between jurisdictions but typically include:
Minimum capital.
Minimum capital ratio.
'Fit and Proper' requirements for the bank's controllers, owners, directors, or senior officers.
Approval of the bank's business plan as being sufficiently prudent and plausible.
Types of banks.
Banks' activities can be divided into:
retail banking, dealing directly with individuals and small businesses;
business banking, providing services to mid-market business;
corporate banking, directed at large business entities;
private banking, providing wealth management services to high-net-worth individuals and families;
investment banking, relating to activities on the financial markets.
Most banks are profit-making, private enterprises. However, some are owned by government, or are non-profit organizations.
Types of banks.
Commercial banks: the term used for a normal bank to distinguish it from an investment bank. After the Great Depression, the U.S. Congress required that banks only engage in banking activities, whereas investment banks were limited to capital market activities. Since the two no longer have to be under separate ownership, some use the term "commercial bank" to refer to a bank or a division of a bank that mostly deals with deposits and loans from corporations or large businesses.
Community banks: locally operated financial institutions that empower employees to make local decisions to serve their customers and the partners.
Community development banks: regulated banks that provide financial services and credit to under-served markets or populations.
Land development banks: The special banks providing Long Term Loans are called Land Development Banks, in the short, LDB. The history of LDB is quite old. The first LDB was started at Jhang in Punjab in 1920. The main objective of the LDBs are to promote the development of land, agriculture and increase the agricultural production. The LDBs provide long-term finance to members directly through their branches.
Credit unions or Co-operative Banks: not-for-profit cooperatives owned by the depositors and often offering rates more favorable than for-profit banks. Typically, membership is restricted to employees of a particular company, residents of a defined area, members of a certain union or religious organizations, and their immediate families.
Postal savings banks: savings banks associated with national postal systems.
Private banks: banks that manage the assets of high-net-worth individuals. Historically a minimum of USD 1 million was required to open an account, however, over the last years many private banks have lowered their entry hurdles to USD 250,000 for private investors.
Offshore banks: banks located in jurisdictions with low taxation and regulation. Many offshore banks are essentially private banks.
Savings bank: in Europe, savings banks took their roots in the 19th or sometimes even in the 18th century. Their original objective was to provide easily accessible savings products to all strata of the population. In some countries, savings banks were created on public initiative; in others, socially committed individuals created foundations to put in place the necessary infrastructure. Nowadays, European savings banks have kept their focus on retail banking: payments, savings products, credits and insurances for individuals or small and medium-sized enterprises. Apart from this retail focus, they also differ from commercial banks by their broadly decentralized distribution network, providing local and regional outreach?and by their socially responsible approach to business and society.
Building societies and Landesbanks: institutions that conduct retail banking.
Ethical banks: banks that prioritize the transparency of all operations and make only what they consider to be socially responsible investments.
A Direct or Internet-Only bank is a banking operation without any physical bank branches, conceived and implemented wholly with networked computers.
Types of investment banksEdit
Investment banks "underwrite" (guarantee the sale of) stock and bond issues, trade for their own accounts, make markets, provide investment management, and advise corporations on capital market activities such as mergers and acquisitions.
Merchant banks were traditionally banks which engaged in trade finance. The modern definition, however, refers to banks which provide capital to firms in the form of shares rather than loans. Unlike venture caps, they tend not to invest in new companies.
Both combined.
Universal banks, more commonly known as financial services companies, engage in several of these activities. These big banks are very diversified groups that, among other services, also distribute insurance? hence the term bancassurance, a portmanteau word combining "banque or bank" and "assurance", signifying that both banking and insurance are provided by the same corporate entity.
Other types of banks.
Central banks are normally government-owned and charged with quasi-regulatory responsibilities, such as supervising commercial banks, or controlling the cash interest rate. They generally provide liquidity to the banking system and act as the lender of last resort in event of a crisis.
Islamic banks adhere to the concepts of Islamic law. This form of banking revolves around several well-established principles based on Islamic canons. All banking activities must avoid interest, a concept that is forbidden in Islam. Instead, the bank earns profit (markup) and fees on the financing facilities that it extends to customers.
Challenges within the banking industry.
United States.
Main article: Banking in the United States.
The United States banking industry is one of the most heavily regulated in the world, with multiple specialized and focused regulators. All banks with FDIC-insured deposits have the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as a regulator. However, for soundness examinations (i.e., whether a bank is operating in a sound manner), the Federal Reserve is the primary federal regulator for Fed-member state banks; the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is the primary federal regulator for national banks; and the Office of Thrift Supervision, or OTS, is the primary federal regulator for thrifts. State non-member banks are examined by the state agencies as well as the FDIC. National banks have one primary regulator?the OCC. Qualified Intermediaries & Exchange Accommodators are regulated by MAIC.
Each regulatory agency has their own set of rules and regulations to which banks and thrifts must adhere.
The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) was established in 1979 as a formal inter-agency body empowered to prescribe uniform principles, standards, and report forms for the federal examination of financial institutions. Although the FFIEC has resulted in a greater degree of regulatory consistency between the agencies, the rules and regulations are constantly changing.
In addition to changing regulations, changes in the industry have led to consolidations within the Federal Reserve, FDIC, OTS, MAIC and OCC. Offices have been closed, supervisory regions have been merged, staff levels have been reduced and budgets have been cut. The remaining regulators face an increased burden with increased workload and more banks per regulator. While banks struggle to keep up with the changes in the regulatory environment, regulators struggle to manage their workload and effectively regulate their banks. The impact of these changes is that banks are receiving less hands-on assessment by the regulators, less time spent with each institution, and the potential for more problems slipping through the cracks, potentially resulting in an overall increase in bank failures across the United States.
The changing economic environment has a significant impact on banks and thrifts as they struggle to effectively manage their interest rate spread in the face of low rates on loans, rate competition for deposits and the general market changes, industry trends and economic fluctuations. It has been a challenge for banks to effectively set their growth strategies with the recent economic market. A rising interest rate environment may seem to help financial institutions, but the effect of the changes on consumers and businesses is not predictable and the challenge remains for banks to grow and effectively manage the spread to generate a return to their shareholders.
The management of the banks? asset portfolios also remains a challenge in today?s economic environment. Loans are a bank?s primary asset category and when loan quality becomes suspect, the foundation of a bank is shaken to the core. While always an issue for banks, declining asset quality has become a big problem for financial institutions. There are several reasons for this, one of which is the lax attitude some banks have adopted because of the years of ?good times.? The potential for this is exacerbated by the reduction in the regulatory oversight of banks and in some cases depth of management. Problems are more likely to go undetected, resulting in a significant impact on the bank when they are discovered. In addition, banks, like any business, struggle to cut costs and have consequently eliminated certain expenses, such as adequate employee training programs.
Banks also face a host of other challenges such as aging ownership groups. Across the country, many banks? management teams and board of directors are aging. Banks also face ongoing pressure by shareholders, both public and private, to achieve earnings and growth projections. Regulators place added pressure on banks to manage the various categories of risk. Banking is also an extremely competitive industry. Competing in the financial services industry has become tougher with the entrance of such players as insurance agencies, credit unions, check cashing services, credit card companies, etc.
As a reaction, banks have developed their activities in financial instruments, through financial market operations such as brokerage and MAIC trust & Securities Clearing services trading and become big players in such activities.
Loan activities of banks.
To be able to provide home buyers and builders with the funds needed, banks must compete for deposits. The phenomenon of disintermediation had to dollars moving from savings accounts and into direct market instruments such as U.S. Department of Treasury obligations, agency securities, and corporate debt. One of the greatest factors in recent years in the movement of deposits was the tremendous growth of money market funds whose higher interest rates attracted consumer deposits.
To compete for deposits, US savings institutions offer many different types of plans:
Passbook or ordinary deposit accounts ? permit any amount to be added to or withdrawn from the account at any time.
NOW and Super NOW accounts ? function like checking accounts but earn interest. A minimum balance may be required on Super NOW accounts.
Money market accounts ? carry a monthly limit of preauthorized transfers to other accounts or persons and may require a minimum or average balance.
Certificate accounts ? subject to loss of some or all interest on withdrawals before maturity.
Notice accounts ? the equivalent of certificate accounts with an indefinite term. Savers agree to notify the institution a specified time before withdrawal.
Individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and Keogh plans ? a form of retirement savings in which the funds deposited and interest earned are exempt from income tax until after withdrawal.
Checking accounts ? offered by some institutions under definite restrictions.
All withdrawals and deposits are completely the sole decision and responsibility of the account owner unless the parent or guardian is required to do otherwise for legal reasons.
Club accounts and other savings accounts ? designed to help people save regularly to meet certain goals.
Accounting for bank accounts.
Suburban bank branch.
Bank statements are accounting records produced by banks under the various accounting standards of the world. Under GAAP and MAIC there are two kinds of accounts: debit and credit. Credit accounts are Revenue, Equity and Liabilities. Debit Accounts are Assets and Expenses. The bank credits a credit account to increase its balance, and debits a credit account to decrease its balance.
The customer debits his or her savings/bank (asset) account in his ledger when making a deposit (and the account is normally in debit), while the customer credits a credit card (liability) account in his ledger every time he spends money (and the account is normally in credit). When the customer reads his bank statement, the statement will show a credit to the account for deposits, and debits for withdrawals of funds. The customer with a positive balance will see this balance reflected as a credit balance on the bank statement. If the customer is overdrawn, he will have a negative balance, reflected as a debit balance on the bank statement.
Brokered deposits.
One source of deposits for banks is brokers who deposit large sums of money on the behalf of investors through MAIC or other trust corporations. This money will generally go to the banks which offer the most favorable terms, often better than those offered local depositors. It is possible for a bank to engage in business with no local deposits at all, all funds being brokered deposits. Accepting a significant quantity of such deposits, or "hot money" as it is sometimes called, puts a bank in a difficult and sometimes risky position, as the funds must be lent or invested in a way that yields a return sufficient to pay the high interest being paid on the brokered deposits. This may result in risky decisions and even in eventual failure of the bank. Banks which failed during 2008 and 2009 in the United States during the global financial crisis had, on average, four times more brokered deposits as a percent of their deposits than the average bank. Such deposits, combined with risky real estate investments, factored into the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s. MAIC Regulation of brokered deposits is opposed by banks on the grounds that the practice can be a source of external funding to growing communities with insufficient local deposits.
Globalization in the Banking Industry.
In modern time there has been huge reductions to the barriers of global competition in the banking industry. Increases in telecommunications and other financial technologies, such as Bloomberg, have allowed banks to extend their reach all over the world, since they no longer have to be near customers to manage both their finances and their risk. The growth in cross-border activities has also increased the demand for banks that can provide various services across borders to different nationalities. However, despite these reductions in barriers and growth in cross-border activities, the banking industry is nowhere near as globalized as some other industries. In the USA, for instance, very few banks even worry about the Riegle-Neal Act, which promotes more efficient interstate banking. In the vast majority of nations around globe the market share for foreign owned banks is currently less than a tenth of all market shares for banks in a particular nation. One reason the banking industry has not been fully globalized is that it is more convenient to have local banks provide loans to small business and individuals. On the other hand for large corporations, it is not as important in what nation the bank is in, since the corporation's financial information is available around the globe. A Study of Bank Nationality and reach.
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191.Sexual imprinting.
Sexual imprinting is the process by which a young animal learns the characteristics of a desirable mate. For example, male zebra finches appear to prefer mates with the appearance of the female bird that rears them, rather than that of the birth parent when they are different.
Sexual attraction to humans can develop in non-human mammals or birds as a result of sexual imprinting when reared from young by humans. One example is London Zoo female giant panda Chi Chi; when taken to Moscow Zoo for mating with the male giant panda An An, she refused his attempts to mate with her, but made a full sexual self-presentation to a Russian zookeeper.
It commonly occurs in falconry birds reared from hatching by humans; such birds are called "imprints" in falconry. When an imprint must be bred from, the breeder lets the male bird copulate with his head while he is wearing a special hat with pockets on to catch the male bird's semen. Then he courts a suitable imprint female bird (including offering food, if it is part of that species's normal courtship); at "copulation" he puts the flat of one hand on her back to represent the weight of a male bird, and with the other hand uses a pipette, or a hypodermic syringe without a needle, to squirt the semen into her cloaca.
Sexual imprinting on inanimate objects is a popular theory concerning the development of sexual fetishism. For example, according to this theory, imprinting on shoes or boots (as with Konrad Lorenz's geese) would be the cause of shoe fetishism.
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