Wikipedia
Private banks are banks owned by either an individual or a general partner(s) with limited partner(s). Private banks are not incorporated. In any such case, the creditors can look to both the "entirety of the bank's assets" as well as the entirety of the sole-proprietor's/general-partners' assets.
These banks have a long tradition in Switzerland, dating back to at least the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685). Private banks also have a long tradition in the UK where C. Hoare & Co. has been in business since 1672.
There were many private banks in Europe, but most have now become incorporated companies, so the term is rarely true any more. Today, the term "private bank" can also refer to the financial institution specializing in financial advice and services for high-net-worth individuals ( private banking).
"Private banks" can also refer to non-government owned banks in general, in contrast to government-owned (or nationalized) banks, which were prevalent in communist, socialist and some social democratic states in the 20th century.
Usage examples of "private bank".
In the confusion, no undue interest was aroused in the little Swiss town of Aarlau, north of Berne, when various sums amounting to a total of thirteen million US dollars were credited that afternoon to the personal account, in a small private bank, of a French citizen, Charles Auguste Pol.
The officers, detectives, FBI agents, and private bank security companies that were searching for Hollywood were primed for him to hit again in the second half of 1994.
Lyndon Johnson, who could contrive anything if it gave Texas and his private bank account a slight edge.
Everything was photographed, but a glance at the private bank account revealed no evidence of embezzlement from the Winkler Bank—.
Using a little-known loophole in Swiss law, I declared this entire property a private bank.
The army was run by corrupt politicians and generals who put the money intended for munitions into their private bank accounts.
Humberto would then direct those banks to transfer the funds to the Hach Brothers private bank, which would then transfer the funds to his personal account at the Anglo-Argentine Bank in Buenos Aires.
Humberto would then direct those banks to transfer the funds to the Hach Brothers private bank, which would then transfer the funds to his personal account at the Anglo-Ar.
The city has its own private bank, the Tower Federal Credit Union, the second largest in the state and the twentieth largest in the country, with over 75,000 members and $412 million in assets.
The apex of the system was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basle, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the world's central banks which were themselves private corporations.