DGC » Bail-in http://www.dgcmagazine.com — Covering digital currencies, precious metals and online payments Sun, 23 Jun 2013 22:48:17 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 Mises.org: Cyprus and the Unraveling of Fractional-Reserve Banking http://www.dgcmagazine.com/mises-org-cyprus-and-the-unraveling-of-fractional-reserve-banking/ http://www.dgcmagazine.com/mises-org-cyprus-and-the-unraveling-of-fractional-reserve-banking/#comments Sun, 31 Mar 2013 01:21:18 +0000 Julia Dixon http://www.dgcmagazine.com/?p=1307 Continue reading ]]> The Cyprus “bail-in” model of bank rescue, which seems to be gaining popularity, is simply frightening.  Fractional reserve banking is built upon depositors trust in their banks, “for fractional-reserve banking can only exist for as long as the depositors have complete confidence”. Financial regulators are destroying their own system by making depositors fear for the safety of their money… they’re either that stupid or that desperate.  Frightening.

Joseph T. Salerno sees the silver lining here arguing that Cyprus may bring about the unravelling of the current banking system and expose “the true nature of fractional-reserve banking for all to see.”

“The ‘Cyprus deal’ as it has been widely referred to in the media may mark the next to last act in the the slow motion collapse of fractional-reserve banking that began with the implosion of the savings-and-loan industry in the U.S. in the late 1980s.”

“This trend continued with the currency crises in Russia, Mexico, East Asia, and Argentina in the 1990s in which fractional-reserve banking played a decisive role. The unraveling of fractional-reserve banking became visible even to the average depositor during the financial meltdown of 2008 that ignited bank runs on some of the largest and most venerable financial institutions in the world. The final collapse was only averted by the multi-trillion dollar bailout of U.S. and foreign banks by the Federal Reserve”

“Even more than the unprecedented financial crisis of 2008, however, recent events in Cyprus may have struck the mortal blow to fractional-reserve banking. For fractional-reserve banking can only exist for as long as the depositors have complete confidence that regardless of the financial woes that befall the bank entrusted with their ‘deposits,’ they will always be able to withdraw them on demand at par in currency, the ultimate cash of any banking system.”

Ever since World War Two governmental deposit insurance, backed up by the money-creating powers of the central bank, was seen as the unshakable guarantee that warranted such confidence. In effect, fractional-reserve banking was perceived as 100-percent banking by depositors, who acted as if their money was always ‘in the bank’ thanks to the ability of central banks to conjure up money out of thin air (or in cyberspace).”

“Perversely the various crises involving fractional-reserve banking that struck time and again since the late 1980s only reinforced this belief among depositors, because troubled banks and thrift institutions were always bailed out with alacrity—especially the largest and least stable. Thus arose the ‘too-big-to-fail doctrine.’ Under this doctrine, uninsured bank depositors and bondholders were generally made whole when large banks failed, because it was widely understood that the confidence in the entire banking system was a frail and evanescent thing that would break and completely dissipate as a result of the failure of even a single large institution.”

“the deal does convey a salutary message to bank depositors and creditors the world over. It does so by forcing previously untouchable senior bondholders and uninsured depositors in the Cypriot banks to bear part of the cost of the bailout. The bondholders of the two largest banks will be wiped out and it is reported that large depositors (i.e., those holding uninsured accounts exceeding 100,000 euros) at the Laiki Bank may also be completely wiped out, losing up to 4.2 billion euros, while large depositors at the Bank of Cyprus will lose between 30 and 60 percent of their deposits. Small depositors in both banks, who hold insured accounts of up to 100,000 euros, would retain the full value of their deposits.”

The happy result will be that depositors, both insured and uninsured, in Europe and throughout the world will become much more cautious or even suspicious in dealing with fractional-reserve banks. They will be poised to grab their money and run at the slightest sign or rumor of instability. This will induce banks to radically alter the sources of the funds they raise to finance loans and investments, moving away from deposit and toward equity and bond financing.”

If this indeed occurs it will be a significant move toward a free-market financial system in which the radical mismatching of the maturities of assets and liabilities in the case of demand deposits is eliminated once and for all. A few more banking crises in the Eurozone—especially one in which insured depositors are made to participate in the so-called ‘bail-in’—will likely cause the faith in government deposit insurance to completely evaporate and with it confidence in the fractional-reserve banking system.

Read the post in its entirety here.

 

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