In the contemporary era, there is essentially a revolution in banking. Changes affect not only banking offerings and technologies, but also functional organization, risk management, corporate management, etc. Innovations displace the content of traditional concepts and call for new ones. This also refers to banking. That notion has penetrated into different languages, it is used in various senses, various contents are attributed to it. Hence the need to approach, in the light of recent developments, the essence of the banking concept and highlight its practical aspects. The conceptual approach to banking requires new visions, intended to expand the narrow framework of its definition in which the classical treatments still maintain it. The concept formulated by the author is based on the particularities of banking innovations, which represent the defining characteristics of the activity of contemporary financial institutions. The new conceptual approach to banking must serve the practice of researching the banking phenomenon, implementing financial innovations and training financial-banking professionals.