Universal bank is the bank that provides all rages of financial services. It is the combination of commercial banking and investment banking.
According to Peter S Rose, “The bank, in which commercial banking activities converge with investment banking and insurance as well as other financial services is called universal banking”
It is defined in the Oxford dictionary of business, “Banking that involves not only services related to loans and savings but also those involved in making investments in companies is called universal banking”
Under the Second Banking Directive of 1963, the term banking was defined in one way across the whole community, so that all European banks can offer a common set of services referred to a Universal banking. These common services include deposit taking, lending, financial leasing, payments services, supplying guarantees and credit commitments, trading in money market instruments, securities currencies, financial futures, options, and other interest bearing, or interest rate hedging instruments, aiding issuers of new securities, advising on acquisition and mergers, brokering funds, granting portfolio advice and management services, supplying safe keeping services, and providing credit references.