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Private bank
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Private banks are banks that are not incorporated. A non-incorporated bank is owned by either an individual or a general partner(s) with limited partner(s). In any such case, the creditors can look to both the "entirety of the bank's assets" as well as the entirety of the sole-proprietor's/general-partners' assets.
These banks have a long tradition in Switzerland, dating back to at least the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685). However most have now become incorporated companies, so the term is rarely true anymore. There are relatively few private banks remaining in the U.S.; but there are a few such as Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., which is a general partnership with about 30 members.
"Private banks" and "private banking" can also refer to non-government owned banks in general, in contrast to government-owned (or nationalized) banks, which were prevalent in communist, socialist and some social democratic ("liberal") states in the 20th century.