This article will look at the primary financial services available to consumers.
These institutions and financial services provide the much-needed money, and financial support consumers worldwide need.
With these services, individuals can save money, invest in businesses and other opportunities, obtain loans for their needs such as home improvements or education, and plan for retirement.
Major Types of Financial Services
The following is a list of 10 types of financial services:
1. Banking Services
The first type of financial service is banking. These are the services of institutions that provide checking, savings, and other accounts where consumers can store their money in a safe place for later use.
Also, these institutions offer loans to individuals who need financial support with necessities such as mortgage or education expenses or even appliances and cars.
Banks also help people grow their wealth by providing investment services such as stocks, mutual funds, and insurance products.
2. Advisory Services
This is a financial service that helps consumers with their finances. This is usually done by professional financial advisors who review the assets of the customer and business issues before providing advice on planning, buying investment products, and other needs.
3. Wealth Management Services
Another type of financial service is wealth management. This type of service is for the most wealthy individuals in society who have a lot of assets to protect, plan for retirement, and support their family needs through investments.
Wealth management services help the wealthy grow their assets while ensuring that they remain protected from the risks of inflation and other financial threats.
4. Credit Services
A credit service is a financial service where an individual borrows money from a bank, credit union, or any other institution for a certain period. The interest rates on these loans are usually high, but the individual can get money for their needs, such as home improvements or education expenses.
5. Insurance Services
This financial service helps protect individuals and businesses from losses and damages by offering insurance products.
The types of insurance products include life insurance (which protects loved ones in case the individual dies), property and casualty (which protects belongings), medical (which covers health care needs), and others.
6. Portfolio Management
This specialized financial service helps individuals create investment portfolios to optimize profit while minimizing risks.
This service is usually for investors who want to grow their money not just for necessities but also for long-term goals such as starting or growing a business.
7. Foreign Exchange Services
A foreign exchange service is one of the financial services that help businesses, individuals, and other organizations conduct international payments.
This service helps convert payments to different currencies before they are sent or received, making it easy for everyone to use the same money.
8. Financial Investment Services
Financial investment services are a type of financial service that helps individuals manage their investments.
These services help create a diverse portfolio using various investment instruments such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc.
They can also customize these services to clients’ needs based on the amount they have to invest and the returns they want from their investments.
9. Mutual Funds Services
A mutual fund is a financial service that helps get money from investors to invest in companies, properties, and other forms of investments.
Investors with little money to invest benefit from this service because it provides opportunities to grow their wealth and experts who support them on their behalf.
10. Tax/Audit Consulting Services
This financial service is usually offered by an accounting firm or a tax preparation business.
Tax and audit consulting services help individuals, businesses, and other organizations with their income taxes to ensure that all documents are prepared accurately before filing them to avoid fines for incorrect filings.
What Are the 9 Major Types of Financial Institutions?
The following are the major types of financial institutions:
1. Commercial Banks
This financial institution offers different services, including checking, savings accounts, credit card services, loans, mortgages, etc. Savings accounts are usually for non-business clients, while checking accounts are for businesses who want to keep track of their expenses in a separate report.
2. Credit Unions
This type of bank is usually organization-driven, not profit-driven. Thus, most credit unions require members to join their organization before becoming members of the credit union and enjoying its financial services and products.
3. Central Banks
Central banks usually focus on maintaining economic stability by controlling a country’s banking system. They are generally responsible for designing and implementing policies that regulate interest rates and inflation data to prevent sharp changes like deflation or hyperinflation.
Almost all countries have central banks established after World War II. These central banks ensure that economic and financial markets remain stable and help prevent imbalances in money flow within an economy.
4. Types of Financial Services – Internet Banks
This new type of bank offers online account management to help customers manage their finances comfortably from anywhere in the world. Most internet banks provide customer support through email, telephone, and chat rooms.
They work like the traditional commercial banks and offer similar services and products such as loans, credit cards, etc. The only difference is that internet banks do not have physical branches, and clients need to access their accounts online.
5. Brokerage Firms
These are financial institutions that provide different kinds of investment products for individuals and businesses alike. Clients can visit a stock brokerage firm to buy stocks, bonds, options, and other investment products.
Some brokerage firms also help clients find the right financial advisor for their needs or act as one, depending on what clients want.
6. Mortgage Companies
This type of financial institution is usually involved in the real estate sector. It provides clients with mortgages and other kinds of loans that enable them to buy or sell properties they want.
Mortgage companies make it possible for clients to own properties they want with the help of loans that are readily available from these financial institutions.
7. Types of Financial Services – Investment Banks
This type of bank helps clients invest their money in profitable business ventures by matching them with companies that need capital to grow and expand their businesses. Some investment banks also work as a broker for stocks and bonds for their clients.
8. Unit Trust Companies
These financial institutions offer investment plans to individuals and businesses who want to make specific amounts of money in a particular period. Clients can benefit from investing in non-liquid assets through these financial institutions.
9. Insurance Companies
An Insurance Company is a type of financial institution that insures the risks of its clients from losing their properties, life, health, and many other losses.
Clients can enjoy peace of mind knowing that reliable companies insure them for a fee paid regularly until the agreed period ends.
The insurance company protects its clients from losing assets due to unforeseen circumstances and injuries by insuring them for a fee.
10. Savings and Loan Associations
This financial institution aims to provide services and products to specific client groups like young adults, senior citizens, low-income people, or even the middle class.
Even though savings and loan associations focus on offering affordable loans to their clients in need, they may still charge high-interest rates for some types of loans depending on the potential risks involved.
