1. The meaning of intermediary business. Intermediate business can be divided into narrow sense and broad sense. In a narrow sense, intermediary business refers to those business activities that are not included in the balance sheet, but are closely related to asset business and liability business, and will be transformed into asset business and liability business under certain conditions. In addition to narrow-sense intermediary business, broad-sense intermediary business also includes risk-free business activities such as settlement, agency and consultation, so broad-sense intermediary business refers to all businesses engaged by commercial banks that are not reflected in the balance sheet. According to the requirements of Basel Accord, intermediate business in a broad sense can be divided into two categories: one is contingent creditor's rights, that is, intermediate business in a narrow sense, including loan commitment, guarantee, financial derivatives and investment banking. Second, financial services, including trust consulting services, payment and settlement, agency services, loan-related services and import and export services. Since the 20th century, driven by financial liberalization, international commercial banks have used their own advantages to operate a large number of intermediary businesses in order to obtain more non-interest income. With the large increase of intermediary business, the non-interest income of commercial banks has increased rapidly. From 1984 to 1990, the average annual growth rate of non-interest income of all commercial banks in the United States is 12.97%. Among them, the average annual growth rate of non-interest income of banks with assets above $5 billion reached 2 1.93%. Intermediary business has become the main profit source of western commercial banks.
2. Main types of intermediary business of commercial banks: According to the relevant provisions of the Basel Accord, there are three main types of intermediary business operated by commercial banks, namely, guarantees and similar contingent liabilities, commitments, and contingencies related to interest rates or exchange rates. Guarantees and similar contingent liabilities include letters of guarantee, standby letters of credit, documentary letters of credit, acceptance bills, etc. This off-balance-sheet business has a similar feature, that is, banks provide guarantees for the current debts of third parties in trading activities and bear the current risks. Commitment can be divided into two categories: first, irrevocable commitment, that is, under any circumstances, even if the credit quality of potential borrowers declines or deteriorates completely, banks must fulfill their obligations of commitment in advance; The second is revocable commitment, that is, under certain circumstances, especially when the borrower's credit quality declines or deteriorates completely, the bank can revoke its original commitment without any economic sanctions or penalties. Contingency related to interest rate or exchange rate refers to innovative financial instruments related to interest rate or exchange rate since 1980s, mainly including financial futures, options, swaps and forward interest rate agreements.