Lending activities of banks and enterprises share the common feature of temporarily transferring the right to use capital, but differ significantly in legal function and scope.
In principle, lending is the act whereby one party disburses or commits to disburse a sum of money to another party for use within a specified period, on the condition of full repayment of principal and interest as agreed; for banks, this activity is legally defined as a form of credit extension and constitutes a core professional operation.

For commercial banks, lending is a central business activity carried out on a regular basis with the primary objective of generating profit from interest.

Banks are authorized to conduct lending within a strict legal framework, while also engaging in related activities such as deposit-taking, borrowing, and transactions with other credit institutions.

Accordingly, bank lending is closely associated with risk management mechanisms and stringent financial safety standards.

In contrast, for enterprises, lending is not a primary business function but rather arises incidentally within lawful civil or commercial relationships.

Enterprises must ensure that the use of funds is legitimate, that the business plan is feasible, and that the borrower has sufficient financial capacity to repay.

Such lending is supportive in nature and is not regarded as credit extension in the specialized legal sense.

From an accounting and tax perspective, interest income from enterprise lending may be subject to strict scrutiny regarding its legitimacy, particularly in related-party transactions.

Meanwhile, interest income for banks constitutes a principal revenue stream and is governed by a distinct regulatory and accounting framework.

This distinction clearly reflects the financial intermediation role of banks as opposed to the auxiliary nature of lending activities within enterprises.