Temenos

Temenos (Greek: τέμενος; plural: τεμένη, temene) is a piece of land cut off and assigned as an official domain, especially to kings and chiefs, or a piece of land marked off from common uses and dedicated to a god, a sanctuary, holy grove or holy precinct: The Pythian race-course is called a temenos, the sacred valley of the Nile is the Νείλοιο πῖον τέμενος Κρονίδα ("the rich temenos of Cronides by the Nile"), the Acropolis of Athens is the ἱερὸν τέμενος ("the holy temenos"; of Pallas). The word derives from the Greek verb τέμνω (temnō), "to cut". The earliest attested form of the word is the Mycenaean Greek 𐀳𐀕𐀜, te-me-no, written in Linear B syllabic script.

The concept of temenos arose in classical Mediterranean cultures as an area reserved for worship of the gods. Some authors have used the term to apply to a sacred grove of trees, isolated from everyday living spaces, while other usage points to areas within ancient urban development that are parts of sanctuaries.

A large example of a Bronze Age Minoan temenos is at the Juktas Sanctuary of the palace of Knossos on ancient Crete in present-day Greece, the temple having a massive northern temenos. Another example is at Olympia, the temenos of Zeus. There were many temene of Apollo, as he was the patron god of settlers.

Core banking

Core Banking is a banking service provided by a group of networked bank branches where customers may access their bank account and perform basic transactions from any of the member branch offices.

Core banking is often associated with retail banking and many banks treat the retail customers as their core banking customers. Businesses are usually managed via the Corporate banking division of the institution. Core banking covers basic depositing and lending of money.

Normal Core Banking functions will include transaction accounts, loans, mortgages and payments. Banks make these services available across multiple channels like ATMs, Internet banking, mobile banking and branches.

The core banking services rely heavily on computer and network technology to allow a bank to centralise its record keeping and allow access from any location. It has been the development of banking software that has allowed core banking solutions to be developed.

History

Core banking became possible with the advent of computer and telecommunication technology that allowed information to be shared between bank branches quickly and efficiently.

Mobile banking

Mobile banking is a service provided by a bank or other financial institution that allows its customers to conduct a range of financial transactions remotely using a mobile device such as a mobile phone or tablet, and using software, usually called an app, provided by the financial institution for the purpose. Mobile banking is usually available on a 24-hour basis. Some financial institutions have restrictions on which accounts may be accessed through mobile banking, as well as a limit on the amount that can be transacted.

The types of financial transactions which a customer may transact through mobile banking include obtaining account balances and list of latest transactions, electronic bill payments, and funds transfers between a customer's or another's accounts. Some also enable copies of statements to be downloaded and sometimes printed at the customer's premises; and some banks charge a fee for mailing hardcopies of bank statements.

From the bank's point of view, mobile banking reduces the cost of handling transactions by reducing the need for customers to visit a bank branch for non-cash withdrawal and deposit transactions. Transactions involving cash or documents (such as cheques) are not able to be handled using mobile banking, and a customer needs to visit an ATM or bank branch for cash withdrawals and cash or cheque deposits.