Most people keep money in a bank account because it is safer and more convenient to keep money at a bank than as cash. You can also earn interest on money in a bank.

• Withdraw and deposit money.
• Pay for purchases and services.
• Make regular payments of bills etc.
• Accept regular payments of items such as wages.

• A large bank may have several million accounts to manage.
• Computerised systems can store vast amounts of data in a small space.
• Using a WAN account information can be made available worldwide.
• Account information can be retrieved very quickly using transaction processing.
• A large number of automatic transfers and regular payments could not be completed manually.
• Many measures can be used to keep computerised data secure.

Important features of a bank account are :

Debit Card	A card which can be used to pay for goods and services. Information about the account that the card relates to is stored on the card using a magnetic stripe. Newer cards are smart cards and also store data in RAM.
Credit Card	Similar to a debit card, but you do not have to pay for items that you purchase with a credit card immediately.
ATM	Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) can be used to widthdraw money from an account and to access other services. To use an ATM a debit or credit card must be inserted into the machine and a password known as a PIN muct be typed on a keyboard. An ATM uses a modem and telephone line to communicate with a bank's central computer.
EFTPOS	Electronic Funds Transfer at Point Of Sale (EFTPOS) is the method used to pay for items that are purchased with a debit or credit card. At a shop an EFTOS terminal is used to make a sale. The card is swiped through a reader which reads account information from the magenetic stripe. This information together with the amount to pay is sent using a modem to a bank's central computer so that the money can be immediately transferred from the purchaser's bank account to that of the seller. A voucher is printed showing details of the sale.
Cheques	Cheques can be used to pay for goods and services. A customer must write payment details onto a cheque to use it. Information about the account that the cheque should be paid from is printed on the cheque using MICR. The process of transferring money from one bank account to another when payment has been made by cheque is known as clearing, and can take up to seven days.
Statements	Each account holder receives a statement periodically which lists the transactions on his account. Database queries are used to select the information to print on a statement. Because many statements have to be produced they are printed on very fast laser printers.
BACS	The Bankers Automatic Clearing System (BACS) is used by companies to automatically transfer money from one bank account to another. A computer equipped with a modem is used to send details of payments to the bank's computer. Most people have their wages paid to them by BACS.
Standing Orders and Direct Debits	Standing orders and direct debits can be used to make automatic regular payments of bills. Every day a query extracts the list of payments to be made on that day from an accounts database and the payments are made automatically.