Banks play a significant role in the US economy. Wealth that is created by banks strengthens the national purchasing power which results in a more stable economy. Billions of dollars are paid in taxes by the banking sector each year. It also plays an important role in the economy as an employer – in 2013, 20 biggest banks in the US employed over 1.2 million people, from which 228,000 people were employed by JP Morgan Chase & Co alone.

Role of the banks in the economy
Banks also play a significant role as an intermediary in our everyday life. Generally, banks have three main functions: it is a place where people can safely deposit their savings and earn interest; banks issue loans to people and businesses and banks are responsible for electronic payment system. Banks also do variety of other things, for example, help gaining access to capital to corporations as well as assist in mergers and acquisitions. Generally, banks are the intermediary between the ones who want to invest their money and those who have the idea on how to use it.

There are numerous banks and other financial institutions in the United States. In the years after the financial crisis, the US banks have grown substantially bigger. Currently, top 10 largest banks of the US hold USD 11.8 trillion in assets. Further we will take a look on the list of 10 biggest banking financial institutions in the US as of April 25, 2017.

List of the top 10 biggest banks in the U.S.A.
Below you can find a full list of top 10 biggest banks of the United States.

JP Morgan Chase & Co was formed in 1996 as a result of a merger of several companies. It is a multinational financial service provider with 94 branches in over 100 countries and headquarters in New York City. The largest bank in the US is also ranked 6th globally in terms of its asset base. Currently, JP Morgan Chase & Co has an asset base of USD 2.35 trillion. It provides various financial services to millions of private customers, small and medium businesses as well as large corporations, institutions and even governments. Their services include commercial banking, investment banking, treasury bills and bonds, markets and investor services, private banking, investment management, wealth management and brokerage.
Bank of America was formed in 1904 by Amadeo Giannini and it was initially known as the Bank of Italy. The bank is a multinational financial institution with 5,100 banking outlets and headquarters in Charlotte, North Caroline. With USD2.185 trillion it is currently the second biggest bank in US in terms of the asset base.
Wells Fargo was founded in 1852 by Henry Wells and William Fargo. While it is only the third largest bank in US in terms of asset base, it was the largest bank in the world in terms of market capitalization in 2016. The bank had 8,700 retail branches across 35 countries and headquarters in San Francisco. The bank is well known for supporting several environmental programs and also has been charged for numerous economic crimes.
Citigroup was founded in 1812 and currently has headquarters in Manhattan, New York. Citibank is the consumer division of the multinational Citigroup with 983 branches in North America alone. The bank’s services include retail banking, market insurance and credit cards. With total asset base of USD 1.801 trillion it is the fourth largest bank in the US. It experienced massive losses during the financial crisis and was rescued by the federal government and as of June 2012, it had the largest cash reserve among all commercial banks in the US.
Goldman Sachs Group was established in 1869 by Marcus Goldman and Samuel Sachs. This bank is one of the few financial institutions that managed to generate profit during the financial crisis. Meanwhile, it was later charged with USD 5.06 billion fine for falsely assuring investors that the securities it sold were backed by quality mortgages. With USD 861 billion in assets Goldman Sachs Group closes the top 5 list of the US largest banks.
Morgan Stanley with USD 807.5 billion in assets;
U.S. Bancorp with USD 428.6 billion in assets;
Bank of New York Mellon with USD 372.9 billion in assets;
PNC Financial Services with USD 361 billion in assets;
Capital One with USD 330.3 billion in assets.

Switzerland is world famous for its banks and blooming economy having a GDP higher than in most of the Western European countries. Also, the price of the Swiss franc (CHF) was quite stable in comparison to other currencies. In year 2009, the financial sector of Switzerland have contributed around 11.6% of total gross domestic product and employed almost 195,000 employees (136,000 of which are employed in the banking sector specifically), which is almost 6% of the overall Swiss labour force. In addition to that, Swiss banks employ roughly 103,000 employees in other countries.

Today roughly thirty three percent of total global funds are being kept outside of originating state (also known as offshore assets), which are kept in Swiss banks and financial institutions. Back in year 2001, Swiss banks have managed a great total of 2.6 trillion United States dollars net worth.

Privacy policy of the Swiss banks
The Banking Law of 1934 has turned into a criminal offence for a Swiss bank to disclose information about an account holder. Swiss bank discretion policy guarantees the secrecy of bank customers. The anonymity guaranteed by Swiss laws resembles in its nature confidentiality protection level between doctors and patients or attorneys and their clients.

The Swiss authorities recognize the right to secrecy as a core principle that must be secured by any democratic state. While secrecy is guaranteed all bank accounts are connected to an identified individual, also known as ultimate beneficiary. It should also be pointed out that even the bank privacy principle isn’t absolute per se: a prosecutor or a judge is entitled to issue a legal order granting right to apply legally enforced access to bank data essential for leading an investigation.

However, everything changed on the 27th of May year 2015, when Swiss authorities have signed an agreement with the EU officials. The latter agreement has aligned bank practices of the Swiss banks and financial institutions with common European requirements and standards, which, as a result, has ended the privacy policy that EU-resident customers of Swiss banks had been enjoying lately. According to the provision of the agreement, both parties involved: Switzerland and European Union member states, shall automatically exchange information on the bank accounts of one another's residents starting from year 2018.

Asset management industry in Switzerland
Asset management is a rapidly developing business in Switzerland. In order to make sure that the Swiss financial centre does actually prosper and benefit from this development, several local banking and financial associations have developed the Asset Management Platform Switzerland. This platform fulfills the duties previously carried out by the Asset Management Initiative, which was started back in year 2012. The ultimate goal of the platform is to make Switzerland an appealing, global level destination for asset management purposes.

Asset management in Switzerland is going to be improved into one of the leading forces of the Swiss financial centre. Asset management industry is going to be recognized globally for high levels of trust and quality. The aforementioned platform is going to be used in order to develop asset management in Switzerland as strategic industry. As a result, the Swiss financial centre shall become diversified, as already existing guidelines of business will be re-introduced and industries that are receding shall be compensated for. Also, for the private client business and customer-focused investment banking, asset management is going to turn into a full-scale supporting pillar of the financial centre and Swiss economy as whole.

Swiss banks
As of beginning of year 2008, on the territory of Switzerland there are 327 incorporated and authorized banks and securities dealers. Companies on this list widely range and include the Two Big Banks as well as numerous smaller banks. Click here to view our Swiss banks catalogue.

Trademark is a recognizable design, expression or sign which distinguishes a product or a service of a certain source from those of others. Sometimes, a trademark used to identify a service, is called a service mark, especially in United States. Owners of the trademark can be business organizations, legal entities or individuals and it is usually located on a label, a package, a voucher, the product itself or sometimes even on company buildings. The main purpose of a trademark is to communicate that the particular product is from a unique source and to differentiate it from other, similar products. For example, a registration of a trademark serves as a protection for a brand name to preserve its original authorship.

Trademarks are protected by the rights of intellectual property. Intellectual property refers to a creation of the intellect and a monopoly on this intellect that is assigned to the owner of this intellectual property and is protected by law. Trademarks, patents, copyright and industrial design rights are all a part of intellectual property rights. Any unauthorised usage of the trademark by producing or trading a counterfeit consumer good is a violation of intellectual property rights, known as brand piracy. In case of such violation, the owner of the trademark can pursue a legal action against a trademark infringement.

Reasons to register and protect your trademark
Some countries, including United States and Canada, recognize common law trademark rights, which allow taking action to protect a brand name also if a trademark on it has not been registered. Still, it offers significantly less legal protection in comparison to registered trademarks. Meanwhile, most countries require a formal registration of the trademark in order to pursue a legal action against a trademark infringement. Below is a concise instruction on how to go through the process of registering your own trademark.

If the brand name is used already before the registration of the trademark, it is possible to apply for the registration based on the use in commerce concept, declaring that the brand name is in use in commerce and providing with a date, when it was first used. The declaration is usually included in the standard application form, which then needs to be submitted to responsible office with a specimen showing the use of the brand name. Before submitting the registration form, it is necessary to search for already existing trademark on a particular brand name – this can be done online.

Recent big trademark violation cases
There can be found numerous trademark infringement cases in the history of intellectual property rights. Each of them serves as a reminder that a violation of intellectual property is as serious offense as violation of physical property.

#1 Louis Vuitton vs Louis Vuiton Dak
Fashion designer Louis Vuitton recently won a trademark lawsuit against a South Korean fried chicken restaurant, Louis Vuiton Dak. The court ruled that not only the name of the restaurant is too similar to the fashion brand, also its logo and packaging closely resembled designer’s iconic imagery.

#2 Starbucks vs Freddocino
In 2016, Starbucks took a legal action against the company owning the Coffee Culture Cafe in New York after it launched a drink called the Freddocino. Starbucks owns a trademark for the term Frappucino and states that not only both names have too many similarities, but also both drinks have the same structure and visual appearance.

#3 3M vs 3N
3M commenced a legal action against a Chinese company using a brand name 3N and won stating that the company managed to acquire clients and a significant market share thanks to similarities with the 3M and its high distinctiveness and reputation of this brand name.

There are 8559 km² of cultivated land in Papua New Guinea, and it comprises 2% of the country's total territory. In Papua New Guinea, permanent crops occupy 6340 km² of the land. This comprises 1% of the country's total territory. There are 2219 km² of arable land in Papua New Guinea. and it comprises 0% of the country's total territory. 85% of the population are working in agriculture. There are around 1160 tractors in use in the country.

Registered Office & Secretary
Some jurisdictions laws require to assign a Corporate Secretary with association of the Registered Office of the company. For example, it is required by law officer in Gibraltar, Cyprus, Malta and Hong Kong. Or, it is an optional position in Ireland, United Kingdom or Marshall Islands. A Corporate Secretary is quite a different positon from what we commonly understand by secretarial services. A Corporate Secretary is an official officer in the company, who oversees the efficient administration of a company, especially in respect of compliance with statutory and administrative requirements. The main duties of the Company Secretary may vary from country to country, but commonly those are:

To keep and sometimes issue share certificates;
To maintain the company’s statutory registers;
To maintain and update all company registers;
To keep the company’s seal;
To prepare the notices for board meetings or shareholders’ meetings;
To prepare and lodge filings and minutes of the company’s meetings;
To prepare and file annual returns and other financial documents with the Trade Register;
To prepare any other document required by the law;
To sign statutory declarations on behalf of the company and authenticate documents.
Registered office and substance
We have already mentioned the importance of company substance. Remember that registered address and business (or trading) address are two different notions. Adding substance to the service of Registered Office becomes crucial in today’s business environment. Read our article about the Substance Office and let us help you setting-up a solid and presentable structure for your company in a jurisdiction of your choice.