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by flamble
1990 days ago
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Actually, usually, when a bank gives out a loan, it simply writes two matching entries in its ledger. One is an amount of money which it owes the borrower (immediately) which manifests itself as credit in the borrower's account: a liability for the bank. The other is the amount of money which the borrower owes it (over the length of the loan, plus interest), which is an asset for the bank. It's not actually taking deposits and lending them out: the loan itself creates money that previously did not exist; loans create deposits rather than vice-versa. In modern economies with fractional reserve banking, almost all of the money in circulation is debt created in this way. In England as of 2013, it was 97% (source below). The bank is prevented from doing this infinitely by a combination of market forces and the monetary policy of the central bank, primarily the interest rate on central bank reserves held by the commercial banks. If you're interested in how this whole mind-bending system works, the Bank of England has a very well-written explanation: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/quarterly-bulletin/2014/q1/m... |
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