I'm not a financial expert, Ailish, but maybe this is the term you seek.
---
"Sound" banks limit the volume of the loans they extend so that they remain in a prudent proportional relationship to the amount of instantly liquid funds they have available in "reserves" (either as currency in the vault or as demand deposits in some other bank, such as the Federal Reserve). But bankers face a difficult trade-off. The flow of checks that will be presented for payment and the volume of new deposits and loan repayments coming in every day cannot be predicted with 100% accuracy, so the higher the fraction of its total deposit obligations the bank holds ready in reserves, the safer or "sounder" the bank can be considered (and the more attractive the bank will seem to depositers and other potential business associates). However, reserves do not yield any interest income to the bank; only the funds that are tied up in loans to (solvent) borrowers can contribute directly and immediately to the bank's profitability. To maximize their profits, bank management must find the best way to strike a balance between the need to maintain their "reserve ratio" at a level high enough to limit their risks of becoming insolvent and the conflicting need to keep the highest feasible proportion of the bank's available funds loaned out at interest.
http://www.auburn.edu/~johnspm/gloss/banking

sounds like a possibility

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 mins (2005-04-27 19:43:28 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

As the Bank of Zambia reduces statutory reserve requirements it is ... the Bank
of Zambia has decided to reduce the Statutory Reserve Ratios on both ...
www.boz.zm/Media/ReducingStatutoryRR311003.htm - 12k - Cached - Similar pages

State Bank of Pakistan - The Central Bank
About the BAnk - Statutory Obligations ... Presently the requirement is 15% (excluding
5% statutory cash reserve) of the total of its time and demand ...
www.sbp.org.pk/about/ordinance/statutor.htm - 17k - Cached - Similar pages

statutory reserve deposits (SRD)
statutory reserve deposits (SRD):. The reserves that the central bank in Australia
required the commercial banks to hold before deregulation.



--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr 11 mins (2005-04-27 20:50:46 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

FINAL: STATUTORY RESERVE RATIO

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr 17 mins (2005-04-27 20:57:03 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

also known as SRR = statutory reserve ratio OR statutory reserve requirement


commercial banks to meet their mandatory 4 per cent Cash Reserve Ratio ... 20 per cent statutory reserve ratio (SRR) in terms of cash reserve ratio ...
www.weeklyholiday.net/210202/front.html - 48k - Cached - Similar pages


[PDF] Sri Lanka Letter of Intent, Memorandum of Economic and Financial ...File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
... Reserve money. Currency in circulation. Commercial bank deposits ... of statutory reserve requirement on foreign currency deposits by commercial banks. ...
www.imf.org/External/NP/LOI/2002/lka/01/040102tmu.pdf - Similar pages


Public Information Notice: IMF Concludes Article IV Consultation ...... coconut sector and a drawdown of net foreign assets by commercial banks. ... statutory reserve requirement (SRR) with a 16 percent prescribed reserve ...
www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pn/2000/pn0072.htm - 30k - Cached - Similar pages


About the SEACEN Centre... The CBSL decided to abolish the statutory reserve requirement (SRR) on all foreign currency deposits placed with commercial banks with effect from 4 ...
www.seacen.org/newsletter/ 2000-3rdQtr/nbfd-srilanka.aspx - 18k - Cached - Similar pages


NEAC... rate (BLR) of commercial banks is around 12 per cent in mid-March 1998. ... the Statutory Reserve Requirement (SRR) for banks and institutions was ...

sug.
is that the Fed creates new bank reserves, and banks lend them out. ...
with the emergence of money market funds, which require no reserve requirements
hussmanfunds.com/html/fedirrel.htm

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 6 mins (2005-04-27 19:45:49 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

the funding of a central bank as compared to a commercial bank seems
... as the authorities rely less on lower reserve requirements to manage
www.reservebank.co.za/.../8686805798A4AC1842256FAF00455C33/ $File/How+central+banks+manage+their+finances.pdf

The reserve requirements are set by the Central Bank Reserve, reserve requirements
www.libertocracy.com/PoliveriumE-2/E-2Sectors/ E-2Capitalium/E-2EconomyX/BankMoney/policy.htmhave been applied only to transaction deposits


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs 33 mins (2005-04-27 22:13:16 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Reserve requirements
Requirements regarding the amount of funds that banks must hold in reserve against deposits made by their customers. This money must be in the bank\'s vaults or at the closest Federal Reserve Bank.
http://www.answers.com/reserve requirement

Reserve requirements affect the potential of the banking system to create transaction deposits. If the reserve requirement is 10%, for example, a bank that receives a $100 deposit may lend out $90 of that deposit. If the borrower then writes a check to someone who deposits the $90, the bank receiving that deposit can lend out $81. As the process continues, the banking system can expand the initial deposit of $100 into a maximum of $1,000 of money ($100+$90+81+$72.90+...=$1,000). In contrast, with a 20% reserve requirement, the banking system would be able to expand the initial $100 deposit into a maximum of $500 ($100+$80+$64+$51.20+...=$500). Thus, higher reserve requirements should result in reduced money creation and, in turn, in reduced economic activity.