Deposit Multiplier: Definition, How It Works, and Calculation (2024)

What Is the Deposit Multiplier?

The deposit multiplier is the maximum amount of money that a bank can create for each unit of money it holds in reserves. The deposit multiplier involves the percentage of the amount on deposit at the bank that can be loaned. That percentage normally is determined by the reserve requirement set by the Federal Reserve.

The deposit multiplier is key to maintaining an economy's basic money supply. It's a component of thefractional reserve bankingsystem, which is now common to banks in most nations around the world.

Key Takeaways

  • The deposit multiplier is the maximum amount of money a bank can create in the form of checkable deposits for each unit of money of reserves.
  • This figure is key to maintaining an economy's basic money supply.
  • It's a component of the fractional reserve banking system.
  • Although reserve minimums are set by the Federal Reserve, banks may set higher ones for themselves.
  • The deposit multiplier is different from the money multiplier, which reflects the change in a nation's money supply created by the actual use of a loan.

Understanding the Deposit Multiplier

The deposit multiplier is also called the deposit expansion multiplier or the simple deposit multiplier. It's connected to the portion of a bank's deposits that can be lent to borrowers.

This lending activity injects money into the nation's money supply and supports economic activity. Essentially, the deposit multiplier is an indicator of how banks can increase or multiply deposits.

Central banks, such as the Federal Reservein the United States, establish minimum amounts that banks must hold in reserve. These amounts are known as required reserves. Banks must maintain reserves apart from what they loan to ensure that they have sufficient cash to meet any withdrawal requests from depositors. The Fed pays banks a small amount of interest on their reserves, which can be held at the bank or at a local Federal Reserve bank.

The deposit multiplier relates to the percentage of funds in reserve. It provides an idea of how much money banks could create based on what they have to lend after accounting for reserves.

Deposit Multiplier Calculation

The deposit multiplier is the inverse of the percentage of required reserves. So if the reserve requirement is 20%, the deposit multiplier is 5. Here's how that's calculated:

Deposit multiplier = 1/.20

Deposit multiplier = 5

For every $1 a bank has in reserves, it is able to increase deposits (and, theoretically, the money supply) by $5 through what it lends.

The amount that a bank can lend from its checkable deposits—demand accounts against which checks, drafts, or other financial instruments can be negotiated—depends on the Fed's reserve requirement. This is fractional reserve banking at work. If the reserve requirement is 20%, the bank can lend out 80% of money on deposit.

Deposit Multiplier: Definition, How It Works, and Calculation (1)

Deposit Multiplier vs. Money Multiplier

The deposit multiplier is frequently confused with the money multiplier. Although the two terms are closely related, they are are distinctly different and not interchangeable.

The money multiplier reflects the change in a nation's money supply created by the loan of capital beyond a bank's reserve. It can be seen as the maximum potential creation of money through the multiplier effect of all bank lending.

The deposit multiplier provides the basis for the money multiplier, but the money multiplier value is ultimately less. That's because of excess reserves, savings, and conversions to cash by consumers.

Banks may keep reserves beyond the requirements set by the Federal Reserve in order to reduce the number of its checkable deposits. This can reduce the amount of new money it injects into the nation's money supply.

What Is Fractional Reserve Banking?

It's a system of banking whereby a portion of all money deposited is held in reserve to protect the daily activities of banks and ensure that they are able to meet the withdrawal requests of their customers. The amount not in reserve can be loaned to borrowers. This continually adds to the nation's money supply and supports economic activity. The Fed can use fractional reserve banking to affect the money supply by changing its reserve requirement.

How Does the Deposit Multiplier Relate to the Money Supply?

The deposit multiplier is an indicator of how much a bank's lending activity can add to the money supply. Essentially, banks multiply deposits throughout the country by lending money to borrowers who then deposit the money in their own bank accounts. The deposit multiplier represents the amount of money that can be created based on a single unit held in reserve. The higher the Fed's reserve requirement, the smaller the deposit multiplier, and the less of an increase in deposits created through lending.

How Do You Calculate the Deposit Multiplier?

Take the Federal Reserve's reserve requirement for banks. Divide that figure into 1. The result is the amount of new money that could be created. So, say the Fed's reserve requirement is 18%. The deposit multiplier would be 1/.18, or 5.55. That means for every $1 in bank reserves, $5.55 could be added to the money supply. The lower the reserve requirement, the greater the amount of money that can be created (because more money is available to be lent).

Deposit Multiplier: Definition, How It Works, and Calculation (2024)

FAQs

Deposit Multiplier: Definition, How It Works, and Calculation? ›

The deposit multiplier is sometimes expressed as the deposit multiplier ratio, which is the inverse of the required reserve ratio. For example, if the required reserve ratio is 20%, the deposit multiplier ratio is (1/0.20) = 5x.

How does the deposit multiplier work? ›

The deposit multiplier is the maximum amount of money that a bank can create for each unit of money it holds in reserves. The deposit multiplier involves the percentage of the amount on deposit at the bank that can be loaned.

How to calculate money deposit multiplier? ›

The deposit multiplier formula is: 1 / reserve ratio. So with a required reserve ratio of 20%, the deposit multiplier is five. So for every dollar in the bank's reserves, the financial institution can boost the money supply by up to $5.

What is the formula for the simple deposit multiplier? ›

The simple deposit multiplier is ∆D = (1/rr) × ∆R, where ∆D = change in deposits; ∆R = change in reserves; rr = required reserve ratio.

What is the formula for the deposit multiple? ›

Multiple Deposit Creation Formula: A mathematical equation, D = d/r, which estimates how much additional money can be created from an initial deposit and a specific reserve ratio. 'D' represents overall change in deposits, 'd' stands for the initial deposit, and 'r' is the reserve ratio.

What is the money multiplier and how is it calculated? ›

The money multiplier is calculated by dividing one by the reserve ratio. In other words, the money multiplier is the reciprocal of the reserve ratio. For example, If the reserve ratio is 10%, the money multipliers 10.

What is the formula for deposit amount? ›

=Purchase Price-PV(Rate,Nper,-Pmt)

The loan amount will be subtracted from the purchase price to get the deposit amount. Rate: is the interest rate per period. It will be divided by 4 if it is per quarter or 12 if it's per annum. Nper: is the total number of payment periods in an investment, which will be 48(4*12).

How to calculate total deposit? ›

Total Deposit = Initial Deposit × Money Multiplier =500×10=Rs.

What is the money multiplier if the reserve requirement is 20 and a $1000 deposit is made? ›

The initial deposit is $1,000. The required reserve ratio is 20%. So the money multiplier is 1 / 20% = 1 / . 20 = 5.

What is the formula for the money multiplier with the cash deposit ratio? ›

Exercises. Given the following, calculate the M1 money multiplier using the formula m 1 = 1 + (C/D)/[rr + (ER/D) + (C/D)]. Once you have m, plug it into the formula ΔMS = m × ΔMB. So if m 1 = 2.6316 and the monetary base increases by $100,000, the money supply will increase by $263,160.

How do you calculate deposit ratio? ›

Credit-Deposit Ratio = Total Advances/Total Deposits *100. It is the ratio of how much a bank lends out of deposits it has mobilised. It indicates how much of each rupee of deposit goes towards credit markets in a particular region.

What is the potential money multiplier if the reserve requirement is 25%? ›

With a reserve requirement of 25%, the monetary multiplier is 1/. 25 = 4. The money supply can potentially increase by the multiplier times the initial increase in excess reserves, or 4 x $22,500 = $90,000.

What is the simple deposit or money multiplier if the required reserve ratio is 25? ›

Explanation: If the reserve ratio is 25%, the simple deposit multiplier can be calculated by the formula 1/reserve ratio. In this case the reserve ratio is 0.25 (or 25%), therefore the simple deposit multiplier would be 1/0.25 which equals 4.

How does a deposit multiplier work? ›

The deposit multiplier is defined as the ratio of the amount of deposits created by banks to the amount of reserves held by banks. The higher the deposit multiplier, the more money banks can lend out to customers. Similarly, the lower the deposit multiplier, the less money banks can loan out.

What is the formula for deposit in math? ›

(Deposit) ((1 + r)t 1) Balance After t Monthly Deposits = ⇥ r Where t is the number of deposits and r is the monthly interest rate. Where t is the number of deposits needed to reach your goal and r is the monthly interest rate. Where r is the monthly rate in decimal form and t is the term in number of months.

What does multiple deposit mean? ›

The deposit multiplier is the ratio of the checkable deposit to the amount in the reserves. Generally, banks hold a maximum amount of money that they can create as a percentage of their reserves, which is set forth by the fractional reserve banking system.

How do you win on the money multiplier? ›

The theme and name of the game: MONEY MULTIPLIER. Match YOUR NUMBER in any one GAME to one of the WINNING NUMBERS, win corresponding PRIZE for that same GAME. If you win in any one GAME, scratch the MULTIPLIER spot for that same GAME. Multiply the PRIZE won in that GAME by the MULTIPLIER number for that same GAME.

How does the multiplier effect work on bank accounts? ›

In fractional reserve banking, the money multiplier (or deposit multiplier) effect shows how banks can re-lend a portion of the deposits on-hand to increase the amount of money in the economy. In this way, commercial banks have a large degree of influence on economic outcomes. Federal Reserve Board.

What is the difference between money multiplier deposit and fixed deposit? ›

With regular FD you make a one time fixed deposit for a predetermined interest rate and duration. While with Money Multiplier FD, the excess amount in your savings account is converted into an FD. This way the FD earns interest for the tenure it is invested.

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