When lending money, bankers generally demand precision.
The European Central Bank also holds Greek debt, which it accepts as collateral when lending to euro area banks.
The London Inter-bank Offered Rate (LIBOR) aims to represent the prices banks charge when lending to one another.
As when lending a paper book, the owner cannot read the e-book while it's on loan.
When lending a piece to another institution, museums color-code or brand the crates for easy tracking.
Nothing, however, prevents the Fund from demanding policy commitments from regional bodies when lending to their member governments.
The most notable may be "risk", which derives from Tuscan rischio, the amount considered necessary to cover costs when lending money, ie, a euphemism for interest.
This means that the equipment vendors are taking on risk, particularly when lending to new entrants that do not have any revenues at the moment.
There was no exchange rate target to defend; better still for governments, creditors proved remarkably tolerant when lending to countries with currencies that tended to depreciate.
It is the Fund's own policy, when lending to a country in default, that the borrower must be "making a good faith effort" with its creditors.
In August, Tom Hayes became the first man to be convicted of rigging the Libor rate that banks used to charge interest when lending to each other.
