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爱丽丝有100万英镑的生活储蓄，并将其存入NatWest银行。政府需要资金用于一个项目，因此指示财政部发行一张100万英镑的债券，年利率为2%，到期时间为10年。NatWest银行用爱丽丝的钱购买了这张债券。英国央行决定要求银行持有更多的流动资产。然而，利率已经非常低，无法进一步降低。尽管如此，他们仍希望鼓励银行的流动性。因此，他们引入了量化宽松（QE）储备的概念。其运作方式如下：英国央行在NatWest的账户中记入100万英镑的储备，并用这笔钱购买NatWest持有的债券。实际上，NatWest将债券出售给英国央行，以换取100万英镑的储备。这些储备就像一种二级货币，只能在银行之间交换，永远不会离开英国央行的系统。由于英国央行控制货币政策，他们只需在系统中输入“+£1,000,000”，于是——100万英镑就凭空创造出来了。为了鼓励银行将资金保持在储备形式，英国央行对这些储备支付5%的利息。 --- ### 2009年赔偿协议根据2009年的赔偿协议，财政部承诺承担英国央行因创造这些QE储备而产生的任何损失。因此，英国央行持有一张年利率为2%的100万英镑债券，但必须向NatWest支付100万英镑储备的5%利息。这导致英国央行在这100万英镑上出现了3%的损失。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为3万英镑（实际上，税收覆盖了数十亿英镑的损失，涉及数千亿的QE储备）。 --- 接下来，爱丽丝想买房，并要求NatWest将100万英镑转给鲍勃。在实施QE之前，NatWest可能会因为债券不易迅速转化为现金而面临流动性问题。但现在，NatWest持有的是储备而不是债券。因此，NatWest只需指示英国央行将100万英镑的储备从NatWest的账户转移到巴克莱银行。资金并未离开英国央行的账本，但它是即时流动的，爱丽丝的交易顺利完成。 --- ### 为什么这对英国人来说感觉像是双重打击：债券支付2%的原因是你在固定期限内放弃了对资金的控制。但在这里，银行不仅获得了储备的5%利息，而且仍然可以完全流动地使用这笔钱进行交易。这听起来就像是凭空产生的利息——银行仅仅因为持有资金而获得报酬，而不是因为实际运作或借贷。与此同时，爱丽丝和鲍勃并没有意识到，通过将他们的生活储蓄存入银行，他们间接资助了税收的增加。这笔税收用于覆盖政府向银行支付的5%利息，这些利息来自于爱丽丝和鲍勃的钱所产生的QE储备。此外，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。 --- ### 结语：你要么拥有流动性，要么赚取利息。如果你同时拥有这两者，其他人就要为此买单。 --- ### 附加信息：看看最近的英国银行盈利报告——它们的利润大部分来自于QE储备的利息。这真是令人震惊。

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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：为什么英国银行能从虚无中创造的钱中获得4.5%的收益