Fractional-reserve banking
Fractional-reserve banking is the system of banking in all countries worldwide, under which banks that take deposits from the public keep only part of their deposit liabilities in liquid assets as a reserve, typically lending the remainder to borrowers. Bank reserves are held as cash in the bank or as balances in the bank's account at the central bank. Fractional-reserve banking differs from the hypothetical alternative model, full-reserve banking, in which banks would keep all depositor funds on hand as reserves.
Components of the euro money supply 1998–2007
A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets.
This 15th-century painting depicts money-dealers at a banca (bench) during the Cleansing of the Temple.
Sealing of the Bank of England Charter (1694), by Lady Jane Lindsay, 1905.
Interior of the Helsinki Branch of the Vyborg-Bank [fi] in the 1910s
Banco de Venezuela in Coro.