After graduating from the Budapest University of Technology in 1879–80, he was an assistant professor at the Department of Technical Mechanics. After that he was the editing engineer of the MÁV machine factory, then of the company Ganz and Partner. From 1899 until his death, he was a professor of structural engineering at the Department of Hydraulic machines, Compressors and Steam turbines at the Budapest University of Technology. The introduction of engine production in Hungary is connected to Bánki and his colleague, János Csonka. Their joint creation was the first and competitive product of the Hungarian engine industry on international markets, the Bánki – Csonka engine produced by the Ganz factory, the most significant innovation of which is the carburetor patented in 1893. In 1894 he patented the first high-pressure combustion engine, the internationally recognized Bánki Engine. His water turbine (1917), which after his death (1926) was awarded the Grand Prize of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, opened new avenues in the development of small hydropower plants.