Question

If total deposits in bank A total $15 million and the required-reserve ratio is 10 percent, than excess reserves equal:_______

Answer 1

Answer:

$13.5 million  

Explanation:

Fractional Banking System- This is banking system where banks are required by the central banking authority to keep a certain percentage of their total deposit as the minimum reserve which they cannot lend out.

The idea behind this requirement is to help manage liquidity risk- a situation where a bank does not have enough cash to meet its deposit customers demand.

Required-reserve ratio: The minimum percentage that banks are required to keep as reserve is known as the required-reserve ratio. In this question, it is given as 10%. Multiply this ratio by the total deposit and you will get the required reserve in dollar amount.

Therefore the required reserve for this bank = 10% ×$15 million= $1.5 million

Excess reserve; Excess reserve is the balance of the total deposit over and above the required reserve. The bank can lend and create loan asset from this balance.

It is calculated as = Total deposit - Required reserve

So we apply this to our question

        Excess reserve = $15 million - (10% × $15 million)

                               = $15 million - $1.5 million

                              = $13.5 million