Editing Central bank (section)

=== Banking supervision and other activities ===
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In some countries a central bank, through its subsidiaries, controls and monitors the banking sector. In other countries banking supervision is carried out by a government department such as the [[UK Treasury]], or by an independent government agency, for example, UK's [[Financial Conduct Authority]]. It examines the banks' [[balance sheet]]s and behaviour and policies toward consumers.{{clarify|date=January 2015}} Apart from refinancing, it also provides banks with services such as transfer of funds, bank notes and coins or foreign currency. Thus it is often described as the "bank of banks".

Many countries will monitor and control the banking sector through several different agencies and for different purposes. The [[Bank regulation in the United States]] for example is highly fragmented with 3 federal agencies, the [[Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation]], the [[Federal Reserve Board]], or [[Office of the Comptroller of the Currency]] and numerous others on the state and the private level. There is usually significant cooperation between the agencies. For example, [[money center bank]]s, [[deposit-taking institution]]s, and other types of financial institutions may be subject to different (and occasionally overlapping) regulation. Some types of banking regulation may be delegated to other levels of government, such as state or provincial governments.

Any cartel of banks is particularly closely watched and controlled. Most countries control bank mergers and are wary of concentration in this industry due to the danger of [[groupthink]] and runaway lending bubbles based on a [[single point of failure]], the [[credit culture]] of the few large banks.