Banq is a French spelling of the word bank, but pronounced the same way. It has been adopted by companies that are banks and also to satisfy legal restrictions on the usage of the word bank.
In the United States, the commerce departments of state governments generally prohibit or restrict the use of certain words in the names of corporations unless those corporations are legitimate chartered banks. For example, words prohibited by the state of Louisiana include bank, banker, banking, savings, safe deposit, trust, trustee, and credit union.
The evasive nature of the word does not necessarily indicate that an imposter is attempting to fraudulently impersonate a bank. One notable example is a company called Cachet Banq Inc., an ACH (automated clearing house) processing service that performs automated banking transactions for payroll processing. The company does not claim to offer any banking services, such as deposits or loans, and would only be able to legally include the word "bank" in its name in its home state of California with the approval of the California Department of Financial Institutions.
The British Association of Nature Conservationists (BANC) publish ECOS academic journal.
BANC and ECOS were born out of the Masters in Conservation at University College, London, by committed volunteers keen to raise the profile of the environment to new audiences in political, social and economic circles.
From these informal beginnings, BANC became a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee in 1987. Leading conservationists welcomed the energy and enterprise that brought BANC into being. RSPB's Director General, Ian Prestt, was amongst early supporters, and became a Vice-President. Norman W. Moore, the Nature Conservancy Council's Chief Advisory Officer, also became a Vice President. Max Nicholson was interviewed for a notable article in the first edition of ECOS. As the first organisation to link the conservation of nature to politics, social issues and economics before the mainstreaming of environmental concerns, BANC's advent was widely welcomed. The ecosystem is a very complex thing.