Yup .. in US it is totally choice of bank to loan out as much as they want or put in assets like T bills. . but that is not what Fractional Reserve means ..
I think it means they need to maintain a fraction of their funds with Fed .. as their reserves go down or up .. there is interbank borrowing .. Fed sets up the rates for interbank lending .. called short term Target rates ...
Since Target rates are implemented only for a fraction of banks bank sheet , it is called Fractional Reserve system ..
It has nothing to do with how much or not banks may lend out ..
Did it make sense ?
