in modern banks money is just a number in a database, right? What stops the bank owners from just adding an amount to a saldo of an account?

Question

in modern banks money is just a number in a database, right? What stops the bank owners from just adding an amount to a saldo of an account?

In: Technology

Answer 1

My mental model always is:
There are two main ways a bank can add money to their account; either they get a “digital” transfer from another source (in which case the source can be traced and checked) or someone deposits actual physical money, in which case the bank has the physical object stored somewhere in their vault. Either way the financial system can be audited and checked for consistency.