A good number of candidates who attempted this question performed very well in the
(b) part but could not score very high marks because they failed to properly distinguish between a merchant bank and a commercial bank as required in the (a) part of the question.
Candidates were expected to present the following as answers for the (a) part of the question:
(a) (i) a merchant bank is a wholesale bank while a commercial bank is a retail
bank;
(ii) deposits of a merchant bank are fixed while those of a commercial bank
are payable on demand;
(iii) a merchant bank engages in medium and long term lending while a
commercial bank engages in short term lending