Cash reserve

“ I have tediously insisted that the natural system of banking is that of many banks keeping their own cash reserve, with the penalty of failure before them if they neglect it. I have shown that our system is that of a single bank keeping the whole reserve under no effectual penalty of failure. ”

“ Any sudden event which creates a great demand for actual cash may cause, and will tend to cause, a panic in a country where cash is much economised, and where debts payable on demand are large. In such a country an immense credit rests on a small cash reserve, and an unexpected and large diminution of that reserve may easily break up and shatter very much, if not the whole, of that credit. ”

“ In the management of its reserve the bank itself necessarily feels a strong conflict of interests. On the one hand, it is impelled to increase its securities as far as possible, for it is from them that it derives its profits, and the retention of a large amount of idle cash is felt as a loss. On the other hand, the maintenance of a reserve sufficient, not only to enable the bank to continue its payments but to inspire the public with confidence in its ability to continue them, is a necessity of its existence, even though a part of its resources do thus appear to be kept permanently idle. ”

“ They have of course the petty cash about the various branches necessary for daily work. But of cash in ultimate reserve—cash in reserve against a panic—the savings' banks have not a sixpence. These banks depend on being able in a panic to realise their securities. But it has been shown over and over again that in a panic such securities can only be realised by the help of the Bank of England—that it is only the Bank with the ultimate cash reserve which has at such moments any new money, or any power to lend and act. ”

“ That every national bank shall carry a cash reserve of 20 per centum of its deposits from banks, or upon its bank balances.
Comment:—There is no doubt whatever that banks should carry larger cash reserves against bank balances than against those of individuals. The banks of Europe which carry such balances carry all the way from 33 per cent up to 50 per cent. ”

“ The vast trade of the country cannot be placed upon a sound basis, until the force of public opinion among bankers imposes upon each member the necessity of holding a cash reserve, bearing a fair proportion to the liabilities incurred. It matters little who holds the reserve, provided it actually does exist in the form of metal, and is not evaporated away, by being placed at par, or deposited with other banks which make free use of it. ”

“ If the reserve of the bank is already at the minimum it must stop discounting or must strengthen its position by recovering the cash withdrawn from its coffers. Now it is obvious that if the amount of money withdrawn is kept in the current of business where the banks can get at it, they of course can strengthen their position again immediately, and not only always keep themselves well away from the danger line of minimum reserve, but be always prepared to meet the needs of the money market. ”

“ As it is a very natural and prudent thing for banks in non-reserve cities to increase their cash reserves by at least two per cent when trouble threatens, nearly all try to do so at the same time, and the result is that the threatened trouble becomes a reality. In short, when financial trouble threatens in any other great country the system provides relief and the danger is avoided, whereas, unfortunately, with us every step we take increases the trouble and helps it along until it is beyond control. ”

“ Cash-surrender value is the reserve less a surrender charge. And in case of a single-premium policy the reserve is the face amount of the contract discounted at a specified rate of interest on the basis of the insured's expected life. ”

“ As a distinctive banking term, “reserve” is used to indicate the amount of cash and cash items on hand and on deposit which under the law may be counted as a cash reserve fund held against deposits and note issues. This use of “reserve” is limited strictly to financial institutions.
We find also various so-called reserves shown on the commercial balance sheet, both among the liabilities and the assets. As deductions from the assets are the various depreciation reserves and reserves for bad and doubtful accounts and notes receivable. ”

“ Now, the only source from which large sums of cash can be withdrawn in countries where banking is at all developed, is a "bank reserve." In England especially, except a few sums of no very considerable amount held by bullion dealers in the course of their business, there are no sums worth mentioning in cash out of the banks; an ordinary person could hardly pay a serious sum without going to some bank, even if he spent a month in trying. All persons who wish to pay a large sum in cash trench of necessity on the banking reserve. ”

“ It has been stated by a president of the English Bankers' Institute that the proportion of cash to liabilities shown by country banks ranges down to a point as low as 2.2 per cent. No one can contend that this is an adequate cash basis for banking to work on, and as long as certain members of the banking community conduct their business on these lines an obvious hardship is involved on those which keep a more prudent and strong reserve of cash. ”

“ Other influences, such as changes in the public's currency holdings, may persist for longer periods of time.
Still other variations in bank reserves result solely from the mechanics of institutional arrangements among the Treasury, the Federal Reserve Banks, and the depository institutions. The Treasury, for example, keeps part of its operating cash balance on deposit with banks. ”

“ The average cash reserves of the United States therefore are only a trifle over 11 per cent, when they should not be less than 16 per cent under any circumstances at the low level, reaching nearer 20 per cent at the high level. That is, reserves should be held for use, not ornament. There should be such an elasticity in the use of reserves, as to enable any community or section of the country to adjust itself to the ever-changing conditions of trade. ”

“ It collects money from institutions and localities when and where they do not need it, and lends it to others when and where they do. In like manner the active deposits of the various banks, as they are not all wanted simultaneously, furnish the bankers' banks with a large surplus reserve of lending power, which in turn is an invaluable source of flexibility to the individual banks. By its means they can, if need be, rediscount their commercial paper, exchange their unmatured assets for actual cash, and secure its still better known credit in place of their own. ”

“ It is an awfully nice thing to have, but adds never a cent to my solvency. My correspondent points out that it costs policy holders in old line companies more to maintain the legal reserve than it does to provide for losses by death, and adds that this is proven by the fact that all such companies doing business in the State of New York must have on hand in cash, or in invested assets approved by the insurance department, the reserve belonging to all the policies which they have in force. ”

“ A country which has expanding business, based on rising values of goods and rising capital values of anticipated incomes, which in turn grow out of increasing business confidence, etc., and out of the development of new enterprises which make readjustment necessary, expands its bank-credit to meet the situation. Expanding bank-credits in time grow so large that bankers feel larger cash reserves to be desirable. Their reserves may be also, in some measure, drawn upon by the growing [Pg 531] retail trade and wage-payments, which call for more money in circulation. ”

“ It is this outside development that has changed the face of the problem. It has already been shown to have altered England's currency, which now consists chiefly of cheques, and it is also the cause of continued heart-searchings among the banking community concerning the adequacy of its cash reserves, in spite of the improvement achieved by the Bank of England. ”

“ I do not advocate the lending out in India of any part of this reserve, or of the Cash Balances, at the expense of the stability of the Gold Standard, or until adequate measures can be taken in other ways to ensure this. ”

“ The result is that our reserves lack the element of true reserves, and are robbed of their efficiency, which is essential to commercial safety. The highest degree of efficiency and utility of reserves can only be secured by a centralization of 50 or 60 per cent of our cash reserves, or say 10 per cent of our individual deposits, and 5 per cent of our time deposits or savings accounts. ”

“ A bank like the Bank of England must always, therefore, be on the watch for a rise, if I may so express it, in the apprehension minimum; it must provide an adequate fund not only to allay the misgivings of to-day, but also to allay what may be the still greater misgivings of to-morrow. And the only practical mode of obtaining this object is—to keep the actual reserve always in advance of the minimum 'apprehension' reserve. ”

“ The gold which comes to them in the course of banking operations will be added thereto; and almost imperceptibly the country banks will arrive at the condition of the city banks, whose reserves in coin and legal-tender notes are now far beyond the requirements of law. In the mean time, and without derangement of business, the Treasury may strengthen its reserve,—while, on the other hand, the quiet reduction of its liabilities advances the percentage of the reserve to the whole amount of liabilities in almost a compound ratio. ”

“ Where there were many banks keeping their own reserve, and each most anxious to keep a sufficient reserve, because its own life and credit depended on it, the risk of the Government in keeping a banker would be reduced to a minimum. ”

“ Every day the checks are presented which are sent in in accordance with the law, and the actual money is withdrawn from the channels of trade; that is, the United States Government withdraws reserve money to the full extent of every dollar that is due it. ”

“ Too much reserves only means a small loss of profit, but too small a reserve may mean ruin. Credit may be at once shaken, and if some terrifying accident happens to supervene, there may be a run on the banking department, that may be too much for it, as in 1857 and 1866, and may make it unable to pay its way without assistance, as it was in those years." And again he writes: "Why should a bank keep any reserve? Because it may be called upon to pay certain liabilities at once and in a moment." ”

“ As and when it may be necessary the Bank should raise or lower its rate, maintaining a reserve which is sufficient at all times if it be about one-third of the liabilities. To speculate upon the future, is to attempt to discount influences which may never be felt. To maintain for a day a higher rate than is necessary, is to tax the public for private ends, to reinstate Protection, and to disregard sound economic principles. To illustrate what we mean, take the case of bread famines. ”

“ If you say that the Bank shall always hold one-third of its liabilities as a reserve, you say in fact that this one-third shall always be useless, for out of it the Bank cannot make advances, cannot give extra help, cannot do what we have seen the holders of the ultimate reserve ought to do and must do. There is no help for us in the American system ”

“ When the check drawn by the borrowing depositor may be deposited in other banks and collected by them against the lending bank, its granting of credits rapidly draws down its reserves to swell the reserves of its competitors. One hundred thousand dollars of new reserves may not mean to it an increase of lending power of more than, say, $125,000. For banks in the aggregate, however, this increase of reserves brings its full several-fold increase of lending power, provided that all the reserve efficiency is utilized in whatever bank it rests. ”

“ Should we be fortunate enough to secure a right kind of banking system in this respect, we could almost double our bank reserves, that is, make them twice as large, and yet make two or three times as much profit on that part of the banking business, growing out of the substitution of credit notes for reserves, and at the same time be [Pg 361] vastly better able to protect the balance of our business from disturbance due to the fact that we are compelled to use reserve money for currency purposes. ”

“ With a given amount of money a certain proportion of it can be used for bank reserves on which to build credit transactions. For a time the volume of business will increase more rapidly than the money supplies, so that the proportion of credit business to the whole will increase, the improvement of the credit machinery in the meantime facilitating the movement. But the perfection of the facilities for utilizing to the utmost a given reserve, or a slowly increasing one, will come to a stop after a time, and it will be necessary to increase the money supply for any further expansion of credit. ”

“ Their opportunities and earnings are relatively small, and in order to live they must figure closely. They feel the loss of interest on reserve deposits; the absence, as yet, of dividends on their capital contribution; and the prospective loss or decrease of the exchange they generally charge on remitting for checks drawn upon them. Many banks in industrial centres are precluded by the activity of their business from taking advantage of the reduction in the required reserve. ”