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{{a| | {{a|banking|}}{{quote|''“I don’t need [[money]]. I need questions answered. Question number one: Can I have some [[money]]?”'' | ||
:—Ford Fairlane, in {{fr|The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, Rock ’n’ Roll Detective}}}}{{d|Money|/ˈmʌni/|n|[[File:Hammurabi.jpg|450px|thumb|center|A theoretical conceptualisation of money yesterday]]}} | |||
1. The simplest, most elemental, most basic and yet most ''perplexing'' thing in all of [[financial services]]. In being an abstract, immaterial, token of value, it is a simple, but gravely misunderstood thing. This makes money at its deepest essence, ''[[cunisian]]''. <br> | |||
2. A will ’o’ the wisp, a woodland sprite, an ephemerality which floats freely of the mortal chains of commerce. It is [[derivative]] of ''nothing'', beyond the common opinion of merchants in the town square. It is like Sandy Denny, or one of those free-spirited hippie types that dances round toadstools. It cannot be owned, only ''held''<ref>{{ford fairlane bonus plan}}</ref> — which is another way of saying ''whoever holds it [[Ownership|holds]] it, outright, against all the world''. No-one has a better claim over a unit of money that the one who, [[for the time being]] holds it. <br> | |||
3. What it is not: ''Money is not an [[asset]]. It is not [[property]].'' <br> | |||
[[Cash]] requires your total commitment, or nothing: you can’t futz around with it, you can’t declare a [[trust]] over it,<ref>You can declare a [[trust]] over an account that ''holds'' cash, of course: a subtly, but significantly, different thing.</ref> [[pledge]] it, or even hold it for anyone other than ''yourself''. If you ''could'', this would undermine the practical value of money ''as'' money: a £5 note, to be meaningful, must be a token worth exactly £5. A [[bank note]] has no intrinsic value — it’s a scruffy bit of paper. If its [[nominal value|''nominal'' value]] is £5 but you fear that the person giving it to you may not own it — that is, may not have the ''unalienable legal right to give that piece of paper to you''; that there is a risk that some random may snatch it from your hands after you have given up your own precious goods in exchange for it, alleging some prior, superior, ownership right — ''then it does not have a value of £5 any more''. | |||
It is ''really'' important to the economy that banknotes have the value they say they do. So, cash is a special thing. It has special [[Metaphysics|metaphysical]] properties — or more to the point, it ''lacks'' certain metaphysical properties possessed by ordinary [[chattel]]s. | |||
It is | |||
'' | |||
===''Holding'' cash is different from putting it in a [[bank account]]=== | ===''Holding'' cash is different from putting it in a [[bank account]]=== | ||
It follows from the above that if you put ''your'' [[money]] in ''your'' [[bank account]], it isn’t ''your'' [[money]] any more. It is the [[bank]]’s. | It follows from the above that if you put ''your'' [[money]] in ''your'' [[bank account]], it isn’t ''your'' [[money]] any more. It is the [[bank]]’s. | ||
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===But what about [[client money]]?=== | ===But what about [[client money]]?=== | ||
We have much to say about [[Client money|client money elsewhere]]. But the [[beneficiary]] of [[client money]] protection has no [[credit risk]] to the person offering [[client money]] protection because that person never holds the cash in question. It is instead placed on deposit with a third party [[bank]]. The client ''does'' have full credit risk to that third party bank. This tends to surprise those clients who have the dim impression that [[client money]] protection is some kind of amulet a | We have much to say about [[Client money|client money elsewhere]]. But the [[beneficiary]] of [[client money]] protection has no [[credit risk]] to the person offering [[client money]] protection because that person never holds the cash in question. It is instead placed on deposit with a third party [[bank]]. The client ''does'' have full credit risk to that third party bank. This tends to surprise those clients who have the dim impression that [[client money]] protection is some kind of amulet; a [[patronus charm]]; a magical cloak of [[mithril]], protecting the [[little pot of money]] in the bank’s vault with their names on it against all machinations of the succubi and incubi who infest their dreams. | ||
Why no, good sir: | Why ''no'', good sir: [[client money]] merely ''changes'' the banshee to whose freakish conspiracies your [[little pot of money]] is exposed, ideally just to a ''less'' nasty,<ref>I.e., better [[Capital Adequacy Directive|capitalised]] and prudentially regulated, but don’t tell the Extinction Rebellion that: nastiness is in the eye of the beholder of course.</ref> more ''banky'' type of hobgoblin or foul fiend. | ||
{{sa}} | {{sa}} | ||