Bank

A bank is a financial institution that creates credit by lending money to a borrower, thereby creating a corresponding deposit on the bank's balance sheet. Lending activities can be performed either directly or indirectly through capital markets. Due to their importance in the financial system and influence on national economies, banks are highly regulated in most countries. Most nations have institutionalized a system known as fractional reserve banking under which banks hold liquid assets equal to only a portion of their current liabilities. In addition to other regulations intended to ensure liquidity, banks are generally subject to minimum capital requirements based on an international set of capital standards, known as the Basel Accords.

Banking in its modern sense evolved in the 14th century in the rich cities of Renaissance Italy but in many ways was a continuation of ideas and concepts of credit and lending that had their roots in the ancient world. In the history of banking, a number of banking dynasties — notably, the Medicis, the Fuggers, the Welsers, the Berenbergs and the Rothschilds — have played a central role over many centuries. The oldest existing retail bank is Monte dei Paschi di Siena, while the oldest existing merchant bank is Berenberg Bank.

Marek Biliński

Marek Biliński (born 17 May 1953 in Szczecin) is a Polish composer of electronic music.

Career

He is an alumnus of the Academy of Music in Poznan (Music College in Poznan). He owes his popularity in the music market to his bestseller album "The Garden of the King of Dawn" and video "Escape From The Tropics", which was voted by TV audiences as the best clip of 1984. By then he had already been awarded a “Gold Disc" and had given many concerts in Poland and abroad (e.g. in Berlin, Hamburg, Bremen, Prague, Moscow and Kuwait). Moreover, he was awarded the first prize for the most popular multi-instrumentalist for five consecutive years (1981–1985).

For the next 4 years (1986–1990) he was a lecturer in the Academy of Music in Kuwait. At this period of time he created compositions with Arabic influences. The most well known composition in Poland that emerged from this period of time was the symphonic fantasia "Faces of the Desert". This composition was supposed to be used in the celebration of the 30th anniversary of Kuwait’s independence, but the Iraqi invasion precluded realization of the event. After the Persian Gulf War, the "Faces of the Desert" (which was visualized by photos of artist-photographer Jacek Wozniak ) represented Kuwait on the Global Exhibition EXPO’92 in Seville, Spain.

Przemysław Niemiec

Przemysław Niemiec (born 11 April 1980) is a Polish road racing cyclist for UCI ProTeam Lampre–Merida. He made his professional debut in 2002 for the team Amore & Vita–Beretta. Born in Oświęcim, Niemiec won the 2005 Tour of Slovenia and the 2006 edition of the Tour of Tuscany. He has also won a number of stages of the Route du Sud and finished sixteenth alongside the leading competitors at the 2008 Summer Olympics. In 2013, Niemiec had top ten finishes in many stage races including the Giro Del Trentino, the Volta a Catalunya, and in the Tirreno Adriactico. After finishing 3rd in the 2013 Giro del Trentino, Niemiec was selected to Team Lampre squad at the Giro d'Italia and he rode in support of Michele Scarponi, where he had a very solid 6th-place finish.

He won the biggest victory of his career at that point at the 2014 Vuelta a España. He was part of an early breakaway and won solo on the final climb to Lagos de Covedonga.

Palmares

Grand Tour General Classification results timeline