Depository Institutions commercial banks, savings and loans, mutual savings banks, and credit unions. They obtain funds by accepting deposits from the public. Commercial banks are the oldest, largest, and most diversified of depository institutions. They get their name from their original type of business. When they started, they initially loaned money to commercial ventures or businesses rather than households.
Commercial banks hold demand deposits.
That means that a depositor can write a check or demand their money held in deposit at any time. Thrift institutions or thrifts include savings and loan associations, mutual savings banks, and credit unions. Before 1863, commercial banks in the U.S. were chartered by the states where the operated, so they were called state banks. These state banks could issue bank notes. The National Banking Act of 1863 created banks that were nationally chartered called national banks.