There must be a central bank with the required net capital and foreign-exchange reserves, and the central bank must be responsible for the currency. 3. The banks in the currency area must be able to make deposits and raise collateralised loans at the central bank. 4. There must be access to an interbank payment system, possibly via the central bank. 5.
In a liquidity crisis, solvent banks must be able to use the central bank as “lender of last resort”. Decisive factors for an independent currency are thus that a central bank is responsible for the currency, and that the central bank is able to conduct monetary and foreign-exchange policy in the currency area in question.