Fractional Reserve Banking

Comments discuss, explain, and debate the concept of fractional reserve banking, including its mechanics, common misconceptions, and how banks lend out portions of deposits while maintaining reserves.

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Keywords

e.g M0 DB IOU www.imf WP NO wikipedia.org FRL en.m fractional reserve fractional reserve banking bank deposits lend banks money reserves

Sample Comments

noblethrasher Jul 31, 2015 View on HN

Not sure as to the level of sarcasm you intended, but banks already do this[1].[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional-reserve_banking

zo1 Sep 28, 2014 View on HN

He's referring to Fractional Reserve Banking, have a look at the wiki page for more info:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional_reserve_banking

Jgrubb Nov 14, 2022 View on HN

"Fractional reserve banking" is the thing to look up but, yes.

shard972 Sep 1, 2021 View on HN

but we have fractional reserve banking? so this isn't the case

t_mann May 1, 2022 View on HN

Fractional reserve isn't how banking works: https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WP/Issues/2019/12/20/Mon...

cm_silva Mar 15, 2023 View on HN

Weird, and I thought fractional reserve banking was a thing.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional-reserve_banking

lotsoflumens Sep 13, 2017 View on HN

You should review the concept of "fractional reserve banking".

djoldman Jan 28, 2021 View on HN

Correct. It's akin to fractional reserves [https://www.thebalance.com/what-is-fractional-reserve-bankin...]

eru Jun 4, 2017 View on HN

That's not how fractional reserve banking works..

rayiner Dec 29, 2015 View on HN

That's not how fractional reserve banking works.Say I deposit $100 in a bank. The bank has $100. Now, say the law requires a 10% reserve. They can lend $90--which they actually have. That person takes the loan, and deposits it in their bank. Now, there are $190 in deposits from the original $100. But the bank never lent money it didn't have. Instead, the money creation comes from the fact I get to treat my $100 deposit as good as cash on hand, even though 90% of it has been lent to