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Bank run

Depositors demanding their money back at once, which a bank cannot satisfy because the funds are lent out long.

How to read the number

A bank borrows short and lends long by construction, so a perfectly solvent bank can be destroyed by the speed of withdrawals alone.

When the metric lies

A modern run has no queues: a transfer from an app takes seconds, and money leaves faster than the bank can sell assets to meet it.

Also known as: run on the bank

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