The Bank of England—the first successful state bank (though privately owned)—came close to bankruptcy several times. Government appetites ran so high that even fractional reserve banking could not cover the shortfall, and the brinkmanship nearly led to collapse. Yet the British government always rescued its future central bank. It was not long before all other banks understood that a central bank cannot go bankrupt by definition. This had far-reaching consequences, one of which was that banks began keeping their reserves at the central bank.