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A comment on Physical cash is dying–and you don't need to be a conspiracist to worry. Parent comment

Re:Physical cash is dying–and you don't need to be a conspir... by tyfon on Saturday February 03, 2024 @10:37AM (#39241295)
The biggest reason for banks to exist is too provide "grease" for the economy, i.e. to connect people with money to people who needs to borrow :)

Most banks here don't handle the actual payments themselves except the biggest ones.

The small "savings banks" like the one I work in doesn't have shareholders either, they are owned by the depositors. Almost every small town and community here has one.

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Re:Physical cash is dying–and you don't need to be a conspir... by tomatocracy on Saturday February 03, 2024 @12:15PM (#39242406)
The most valuable service banks provide is not just "matchmaking" lenders with borrowers (an exchange of some sort can do that much more cheaply) or even spreading credit risk across a pool of borrowers (again there are other ways to do that which are cheaper), but maturity transformation: depositors can lend money to the bank which is repayable on demand, but the banks' borrowers are given set repayment schedules.
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