Switzerland has rejected a proposal to transform the financial system that would have prevented the commercial banks from lending more money than their individual deposit levels.
The proposal, if passed, would have changed the usual banking norms where the banks can create new electronic money by issuing new loans.
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It would have made Swiss National Bank (SNB), the central bank of the country, the only authorisation able to create money.
According to the official data released by the government, nearly three-quarters of the voters rejected the initiative, also known as vollgeld.
The Swiss government, which was also against vollgeld, welcomed the result, Reuters reported.
Switzerland Finance Minister Ueli Maurer was quoted by the news agency as saying: “Implementing such a scheme, which would have raised so many questions, would have been hardly possible without years of trouble.
“Swiss people in general don’t like taking risks, and …the people have seen no benefit from these proposals.”
If passed, Switzerland would have been the first country to implement the new system.
It gained support following the 2008 financial crisis where the proponents advocated that vollgeld would help to make the financial system more secure and protect common people’s saving from being lost.
