Thread: Bitcoin et al.
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Old 03-11-2023, 04:40 PM   #283
flere-imsaho
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Chicagoland
The big difference between a Fidelity and a retail bank like SVB (although Fidelity does do some retail banking) is that the vast majority of money invested "at Fidelity" is invested in products such as funds, equities, bonds, etc... where what is happening with your money is transparent. You put $1.5M into a S&P 500 Index fund, you literally have that much money in shares with that fund's ticker.

When you put money into an account in a retail bank, your money isn't actually there. Retail banks take that money and invest it in order to get a return (some of which they might pay out to you for a typically paltry interest rate). Where that money goes is opaque to you as the customer, and instead you just trust that the bank will have your money when you ask for it.

It should be noted that the idea that banks shouldn't be allowed to do stupid things with your money and potentially lose it was part of the reason for the 1933 Banking Act (that is typically referred to as the Glass-Steagal Act) and the Dodd Frank Act of 2010. The former was repealed in 1999 and the major provisions of the latter were repealed in 2018. It's complete coincidence that The Great Recession happened within 10 years of 1999 and, should this "contagion" spread, ti will be complete coincidence that it's only 5 years after 2018.


Anyway, back to Fidelity. If Fidelity goes bankrupt, you still own those assets. All those funds would be managed by other entities. Its retail banking customers would suffer, of course, but that's a small part of the $10T it has "under management".

Of course, unlike banks like SVB, Fidelity isn't incented to do risky things to make money. It makes money through volume (all those transaction fees add up), and it attracts volume by being considered a safe & responsible (people in charge of 401k and pension programs don't want to face angry mobs should those mobs' retirement funds evaporate overnight).

Having said that, a bankruptcy by either Fidelity or Vanguard would have pretty big psychological impacts, at least, regarding faith in our financial system, which is why resisting calls to lessen regulatory scrutiny is so important. Especially since neither are public-traded companies.
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