Saving accounts (UK:
savings accounts) are accounts maintained by retail
financial institutions that pay
interest but cannot be used directly as
money in the narrow sense of a
medium of exchange (for example, by writing a
cheque). These accounts let customers set aside a portion of their liquid assets while earning a monetary return. For the bank, money in a savings account may not be callable immediately and, in some jurisdictions, does not incur a
reserve requirement.
Cash in the bank's vaults may thus be used, for example, to fund
interest-paying
loans.