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爱丽丝有 100 万英镑的终身积蓄，并将其存入 NatWest 银行。政府需要为某个项目筹集资金，因此指示财政部发行一张 100 万英镑的债券，该债券每年支付 2% 的利息，并在 10 年后到期。NatWest 银行用爱丽丝的钱购买了这张债券。英格兰银行决定银行应该持有更多流动资产。然而，利率已经非常低，无法进一步降低。尽管如此，他们还是希望鼓励银行的流动性。因此，他们引入了“量化宽松 (QE) 储备金”的概念。其运作方式如下：英格兰银行向 NatWest 银行的账户贷记 100 万英镑的储备金，并用这笔钱购买 NatWest 银行持有的债券。实际上，NatWest 银行将债券出售给英格兰银行，以换取 100 万英镑的储备金。这些储备金的功能类似于一种只能在银行之间交换，并且永远不能离开英格兰银行系统的二级货币。由于英格兰银行控制着货币政策，他们只需在他们的系统中输入“+1,000,000 英镑”，然后，砰——凭空创造了 100 万英镑。为了鼓励银行以储备金的形式持有资金，英格兰银行向这些储备金支付 5% 的利息。 --- ### 2009 年的赔偿协议根据 2009 年的赔偿协议，财政部承诺承担英格兰银行因创建这些量化宽松储备金而产生的任何损失。因此，英格兰银行持有一张 100 万英镑的债券，支付 2% 的利息，但必须向 NatWest 银行支付 100 万英镑储备金的 5% 利息。这导致英格兰银行在这 100 万英镑上损失 3%。政府介入并提高税收以弥补这一损失——在这个简化的例子中，大约是 3 万英镑（实际上，税收涵盖了在数千亿量化宽松储备金上损失的数十亿英镑）。 --- 接下来，爱丽丝想买一套房子，并要求 NatWest 银行向鲍勃转账 100 万英镑。在量化宽松之前，NatWest 银行可能在流动性方面遇到困难，因为债券不容易快速转换为现金。但现在，NatWest 银行持有的是储备金而不是债券。因此，NatWest 银行只需指示英格兰银行将 100 万英镑的储备金从 NatWest 银行的账户转移到巴克莱银行。这笔钱从未离开英格兰银行的账簿，但它具有即时流动性，并且爱丽丝的交易顺利进行。 --- ### 为什么这对于英国人来说感觉像是双重打击：债券支付 2% 的原因是您放弃了对您的资金在固定期限内的控制权。但在这里，银行获得 5% 的储备金利息，并且仍然拥有完全的流动性来使用这笔钱进行交易。这听起来像是凭空产生的利息——银行仅仅因为持有资金而获得报酬，而不是因为实际工作或借出资金。与此同时，爱丽丝和鲍勃没有意识到，通过将他们的终身积蓄存入银行，他们间接为税收增加提供了资金。这项税收涵盖了政府向银行支付的 5% 的利息，这些利息是针对量化宽松储备金的，而这些储备金的来源是爱丽丝和鲍勃的钱。最重要的是，这种额外的流动性推动了通货膨胀，从两个方面挤压了爱丽丝和鲍勃——通过更高的税收和降低的购买力。 --- ### 最后的想法： *您要么拥有流动性，要么赚取利息。如果您同时拥有两者，那么其他人正在为此买单。* --- ### 奖励：看看最近的英国银行盈利报告——他们的大部分利润都来自于量化宽松储备金的利息。这令人瞠目结舌。

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Alice has *£1M* in life savings and deposits it in NatWest.The government needs funds for a project, so it instructs the Treasury to issue a *£1M bond* that pays *2% interest annually* and matures in 10 years. NatWest takes Alice’s money and buys this bond.The Bank of England decides banks should hold more liquid assets. However, interest rates are already very low and can’t be reduced further. Still, they want to encourage liquidity in banks.So, they introduce the concept of *QE (Quantitative Easing) reserves*.Here’s how it works: The Bank of England credits NatWest’s account with *£1M in reserves* and uses that money to buy the bond NatWest holds. Effectively, NatWest sells the bond to the Bank of England in exchange for £1M in reserves.These reserves function like a form of secondary money that can only be exchanged between banks and can never leave the Bank of England’s system.Because the Bank of England controls monetary policy, they simply type `+£1,000,000` in their system, and voilà — *£1M is created out of thin air*.To encourage banks to keep their money in reserve form, the Bank of England pays them *5% interest* on these reserves.---### The 2009 Indemnity AgreementPer the 2009 indemnity agreement, the Treasury committed to cover any losses the Bank of England incurs from creating these QE reserves.So, the Bank of England holds a *£1M bond paying 2% interest* but must pay NatWest *5% on the £1M reserves*. This results in a *3% loss* on that £1M for the Bank of England.The government steps in and raises taxes to cover this loss — about *£30k* in this simplified example (in reality, taxes cover billions lost on hundreds of billions of QE reserves).---Next, Alice wants to buy a house and asks NatWest to transfer *£1M to Bob*. Before QE, NatWest might have struggled with liquidity since bonds aren’t easy to quickly convert into cash. But now, NatWest holds reserves instead of bonds.So, NatWest simply instructs the Bank of England to move *£1M in reserves from NatWest’s account to Barclays*. The money never leaves the Bank of England’s ledger, but it’s instantly liquid, and Alice’s transaction goes through smoothly.---### Why this feels like a double whammy for Brits:The reason bonds pay *2%* is that you give up control of your money for a fixed period. But here, banks receive *5% on reserves* and still have full liquidity to use that money for transactions. That sounds like interest generated out of thin air — banks are getting paid just for holding money, not for actually working or lending it.Meanwhile, Alice and Bob don’t realize that by depositing their life savings in banks, they indirectly fund a tax increase. This tax covers the government’s payments of 5% interest to banks on the QE reserves that originate from Alice’s and Bob’s money.On top of that, this extra liquidity drives inflation, squeezing Alice and Bob from both sides — through higher taxes and reduced purchasing power.---### Closing thoughts:*You either have liquidity or you earn interest. If you have both simultaneously, someone else is footing the bill.*---### Bonus:Look at recent UK bank earnings reports — much of their profit is fueled by interest on QE reserves. It’s eye-watering.

量化宽松储备金：英国银行为何能凭空创造的资金赚取 4.5% 的利息