Therefore banks make money in three main ways:
1. Lending some of the money deposited by savers to borrowers and charging these borrowers interest on the sums loaned (i.e. the bank makes money by lending at rates higher than the cost of the money they lend)
2. Charging fees for products and services
3. Investing the money deposited by savers.
While some bank customers are looking for a safe place to keep their money, others want to borrow Money to buy or invest in something, or expand a business, for example. If customers kept their surplus money under their mattress instead of depositing it in the bank, the bank would have little or no money to lend. The more the banks lend, the more interest and profits they have the potential to make.