Misconceptions around Banking - Banking 101 (Part 1)
-
0:07 - 0:12There's a lot of confusion about how banks
work and where money comes from. -
0:12 - 0:15Very few members of the public
really understand it. -
0:15 - 0:19Economics graduates have a slightly better
idea, but many university economics courses -
0:19 - 0:24still teach a model of banking that hasn't
applied to the real world for decades. -
0:24 - 0:30The worrying thing is that many policy makers
and economist still work on this outdated model. -
0:30 - 0:34Over the next hour we'll discover how banks
really work, and how money is created. -
0:34 - 0:40But first, to clear up any confusion, we need
to see what's wrong about the way that most -
0:40 - 0:42people think banks work.
-
0:42 - 0:47Public Perception of Banking Number 1: The
'Safe Deposit Box' -
0:47 - 0:52Most of us had a piggy bank when we were kids.
The idea is really simple: keep putting small -
0:52 - 0:56amounts of money into your piggy bank, and
when a rainy day comes along, the money will -
0:56 - 0:58still be sat there waiting for you.
-
0:58 - 1:02For a lot of people, this idea of keeping
your money safe sticks with them into adult life. -
1:02 - 1:07A poll done by ICM on behalf the Cobden
Centre found that a third of the UK public -
1:07 - 1:13still believe that this is how banks work.
When they were told that actually the bank -
1:13 - 1:17doesn't just keep your money safe waiting
for you to return and collect it, they answered -
1:17 - 1:21"This is wrong -- I haven't given them
my permission to do so." -
1:21 - 1:25So this idea that the banks keep our money
safe is a bit of an illusion. -
1:25 - 1:31Your bank account isn't a safe deposit box.
The bank doesn't take your money, carry -
1:31 - 1:35it down to the vault and put it in a box with
your name written on the front. And it doesn't -
1:35 - 1:40store it in any digital equivalent of a safe
deposit box either. -
1:40 - 1:43What actually happens is that, when you put
money into a bank, that money becomes the -
1:43 - 1:45property of the bank.
-
1:45 - 1:50That's right. The money that you put into
the bank isn't even your money. -
1:50 - 1:53When your salary gets paid into your account,
that money actually becomes the legal property -
1:53 - 1:58of the bank. Because it becomes their property,
the bank can use it for effectively anything -
1:58 - 2:00it likes.
-
2:00 - 2:03But what are those numbers that appear in
your account? Is that not money? -
2:03 - 2:09In a legal sense, no. Those numbers in your
account are just a record that the bank needs -
2:09 - 2:12to repay you some money at some point in the
future. -
2:12 - 2:16In the accounting of the bank, this is recorded
as a liability of the bank to the customer. -
2:16 - 2:21It's a liability because the money has to
be repaid at some point in the future. -
2:21 - 2:25This concept of a liability is actually very
simple -- and very important if you want -
2:25 - 2:31to understand banking. Just think of it like
this: if you borrowed £50 from a friend, -
2:31 - 2:35you might make a note in your diary to remind
you to repay the £50 in the near future. -
2:35 - 2:40In the language of accounting, this is a liability
from you, to your friend. -
2:40 - 2:44So the balance of your bank account doesn't
actually represent the money that the bank -
2:44 - 2:49is holding on your behalf. It just shows that
they have a legal obligation -- or liability -
2:49 - 2:52-- to repay you the money at some point in
the future. -
2:52 - 2:56Whether they will actually have that money
when you ask for it is a different issue, -
2:56 - 2:57but we'll talk about that later.
-
2:57 - 3:03Public Perception of Banking Number 2: The
Middle-Man -
3:03 - 3:06Now the other two thirds of the UK public
have a slightly better understanding of how -
3:06 - 3:09banks really work.
-
3:09 - 3:13These people think that banks take money from
savers and lend it to borrowers. The Cobden -
3:13 - 3:18Centre poll that we mentioned earlier asked
people if they were worried about this process: -
3:18 - 3:22around 61% of people said they didn't mind
so long as they get some interest and the -
3:22 - 3:25bank isn't too reckless.
-
3:25 - 3:29This idea of banks as middle-men between people
with spare money and people who need to borrow -
3:29 - 3:33money is very common. In this idea, banks
borrow money from people who want to save -
3:33 - 3:37it, such as pensioners and wealthy individuals,
and they then use that money to lend it to -
3:37 - 3:42people who need to borrow, such as young families
that want to buy houses or small businesses -
3:42 - 3:44that want to invest and grow.
-
3:44 - 3:48The banks in this model make their money by
charging the borrowers slightly more than -
3:48 - 3:55they pay to the savers. The difference between
the interest rates makes up their profit. -
3:55 - 3:59In this model, banks just provide a service
by getting money from people who don't need -
3:59 - 4:04it at the time, to people who do. This implies
that if there's no-one who wants to save, -
4:04 - 4:08then no-one will be able to borrow. After
all, if nobody came to the bank with savings, -
4:08 - 4:11then the bank wouldn't be able to make any
loans. -
4:11 - 4:15It also implies that if the banks lend far
too much far too quickly, then they'll eventually -
4:15 - 4:20run out of money to lend. If that was the
case, then reckless lending would only last -
4:20 - 4:24for a short time, and then the banks would
have to stop once they ran out of people's -
4:24 - 4:25savings to invest.
-
4:25 - 4:28That means it's good for the country if
we save, because it will provide more money -
4:28 - 4:33for businesses to grow, which will lead to
more jobs and a healthier economy. -
4:33 - 4:38This is the way that a lot of economists think
as well. In fact, a lot of economics courses -
4:38 - 4:43at universities still teach that the amount
of investment in the economy depends on how -
4:43 - 4:48much we have in savings. But this is completely
wrong, as we'll see shortly. -
4:48 - 4:51Let me point out that, so far, we haven't
talked at all about where the money really -
4:51 - 4:56comes from. Most people just assume that money
comes from the government or the Bank of England -
4:56 --- after all, that's what's written on
every £5, £10 or £20 note.
- Title:
- Misconceptions around Banking - Banking 101 (Part 1)
- Description:
-
http://www.positivemoney.org/
There's a lot of confusion about how banks work and where money comes from. Very few members of the public really understand it. Economics graduates have a slightly better idea, but many university economics courses still teach a model of banking that hasn't applied to the real world for decades. The worrying thing is that many policy makers and economist still work on this outdated model.
In this video course we'll discover how banks really work, and how money is created.
But first, to clear up any confusion, we need to see what's wrong about the way that most people think banks work.Public Perception of Banking Number 1: The 'Safe Deposit Box' - 0:42
Public Perception of Banking Number 2: The Middle-Man - 2:58
--------------------------
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Email: mira[at]positivemoney.org--------------------------
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Follow us on Google+ http://www.positivemoney.org.uk/googleplusPositive Money is a not-for-profit research and campaign group. They work to raise awareness of the connections between our current monetary and banking system and the serious social, economic and ecological problems that face the UK and the world today. In particular they focus on the role of banks in creating the nation's money supply through the accounting process they use when they make loans - an aspect of banking which is poorly understood. Positive Money believe these fundamental flaws are at the root of - or a major contributor to - problems of poverty, excessive debt, growing inequality and environmental degradation. For more information, please visit: http://www.positivemoney.org/
Animation by Henry Edmonds
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- Video Language:
- English
- Duration:
- 05:03
Alexandre Clemente edited English subtitles for Misconceptions around Banking - Banking 101 (Part 1) | ||
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