Finance is the general name of currency circulation, credit activities and related economic activities. Finance in a broad sense refers to all economic activities related to the issuance, storage, exchange, settlement and financing of credit currency, even including the sale of gold and silver. Narrow sense of finance refers to the financing of credit currency.

The contents of finance can be summarized as the issuance and withdrawal of money, the absorption and payment of deposits, the issuance and recovery of loans, the trading of gold, silver and foreign exchange, the issuance and transfer of securities, insurance, trust and domestic and foreign currency settlement. Institutions engaged in financial activities mainly include banks, trust and investment companies, insurance companies, securities companies, investment funds, credit cooperatives, finance companies, financial asset management companies, postal savings institutions, financial leasing companies, securities, gold and silver, foreign exchange exchanges, etc.

Finance is an economic category formed after the emergence of credit currency, and it and credit are two different concepts: (1) Finance refers to the financing of monetary funds (narrow sense finance), people not only borrow money to finance funds, but also issue stocks to finance funds. (2) Credit refers to the borrowing of all currencies, and finance (in a narrow sense) refers to the financing of credit currency. The reason why people want to create a new concept other than "credit" to refer to the financing of credit currency is to summarize a new economic phenomenon; The two economic processes of credit and currency circulation have been closely combined. Bank credit can create and reduce money, which is the most obvious financial feature. Bank credit is considered as the core of finance.

The meaning of economy

(A) the definition in the Oxford Advanced English-Chinese Learning Dictionary

The first meaning of "economy" is to save (money, strength, time, resources, etc. ); The second layer means understanding; The third meaning is economic management and economic system.

(B) the concept put forward by economists in a broad sense

"Economy" is how to achieve the maximum effect with the minimum cost, that is, how to choose the one with the minimum cost and the maximum effect among various possible choices, that is, under the constraints of various subjective, objective, natural and interpersonal conditions.

(C) understanding of textbooks

The concept of "economy" is mainly used in the sense of productivity and production relations, but other economic factors are not excluded.

Economic or economic situation refers to the production and reproduction of material data of the whole society; "Economic activity" refers to the production, distribution, exchange and consumption of social substances.