Commercial banking involves the traditional activities of receiving deposits and making loans. These activities can be categorized as either retail or wholesale. Retail banking involves transacting with private individuals and small businesses. Wholesale banking involves transacting with large corporations. Loans and deposits are much larger in wholesale banking than in retail banking. As a result, the administrative costs per dollar of deposits (or loans) are lower. The spread between the rates paid on deposits and the rates charged on loans is lower for wholesale banking as well.

商业银行是一种传统的接受存款和发放贷款的活动。这些活动可以分为零售或批发。零售银行业务涉及与个人和小型企业进行交易。批发银行业务涉及与大公司的交易。批发银行的贷款和存款要比零售银行大得多。因此，每一美元存款（或贷款）的管理成本较低。批发银行业的存款利率和贷款利率之间的利差也较低。