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In English, banking refers to activities such as:

  • Paying in money
  • Paying bills
  • Transferring money between accounts
  • Saving money in an account

What's the correct Spanish term for banking as an activity?


Research I have done

1. FluentU

This article by FluentU says 'banca' is the correct term.

2. SpanishDict

SpansihDict lists 'banca', but defines this in the sense of a bank as a business, rather than the activity of banking (as defined in my opening above).

For the activity of banking, it lists 'operaciones bancarias'.

3. EU Dictionary

The EU dictionary lists 'operaciones bancarias' as meaning banking transactions or banking operations. As an English speaker, this seems a little more technical than the meaning I am trying to convey, but is it like that in Spanish?

For the meaning I am trying to convey, the EU Dictionary seems to list 'actividad bancaria'. However, the definition also makes references safeguarding, which suggests it might not be right?

4. Google

Googling around, I see 'hacer operaciones bancarias' appearing a lot such as on this website by Banesco.

So which is the correct term to use?

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    I do not think operaciones is too technical. When the waiter next day gave me back my credit card which I had left behind he assured me it had been in the caja fuerte so nobody could have carried out ninguna operacion with it. He was right too.
    – mdewey
    Aug 20, 2020 at 15:16
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    I would add, although I don't know exactly why, that I've heard more often, and at least to me it sounds better, to say "realizar operaciones bancarias" instead of "hacer operaciones bancarias".
    – rturrado
    Aug 21, 2020 at 23:18

1 Answer 1

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Operaciones bancarias seems to me the most natural term. I would say:

  • No me gusta hacer operaciones bancarias con el teléfono móvil (I do not like to do banking with the phone).

The word banca does have the meaning:

  1. f. Actividad económica de operaciones financieras que se realiza por medio de los bancos.

i.e., financial operations done through banks. It is common to translate "digital banking" as "banca digital", as in

  • Ese banco tiene una aplicación de banca digital muy buena (That bank has a very good digital banking app).

But I would not say "hacer banca" meaning "do banking". I understand the term banca as the set of banking operations, so I could say

  • La banca digital se ha impuesto en los últimos años (Digital banking has taken the lead in the last years).

but to refer to concrete operations, I would say "operaciones bancarias" or "operaciones de banca digital".

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    I agree. At least in this neck of the wood (Argentina and probably neighbor countries ) most of the banking operations which one does as a customer, are called trámites bancarios
    – ipp
    Aug 20, 2020 at 17:20
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    "Actividad bancaria" would be fine for "banking business".
    – Gustavson
    Aug 20, 2020 at 21:43

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