Negative reserve banking is a better description

A better description for fractional reserve banking would be negative reserve banking... the reason for this is that it is not the fractional (or otherwise) nature of the practice which is particular. It is not very interesting to know whether the ratio of reserves is a fraction or not. What is pertinent is whether the bank has sufficient reserves to meet all demands as they fall due. If the bank is capable of this then it has positive reserves if not then it has negative reserves.