Raison d'être et spécificités de la firme bancaire : pourquoi la banque n'est-elle pas une entreprise comme les autres ?

The definition of the bank and its conduct is often founded on a vision borrowed to industrial economy. Models of the banking firm that derive from this vision consider the bank as a producer of credits from deposits or as a producer of deposits from credits. However, following an institutional viewpoint, the banking activity is strongly regulated. Could the functioning of banks be related to the one of an industrial firm ? What are the specificities of banks ?