<Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> A lender of last resort (LOLR) is the lender (provider of liquidity), which since the beginning of the 20th century has usually been a central bank, that supplies liquidity to a financial institution or to the financial market in general when it is lacking . The goal is to prevent financial panics and bank runs spreading from one bank to the next from a lack of liquidity . Different definitions of the lender of last resort exist in the literature . A comprehensive one is the following: "the discretionary provision of liquidity to a financial institution (or the market as a whole) by the central bank in reaction to an adverse shock which causes an abnormal increase in demand for liquidity which cannot be met from an alternative source". </P> <P> The term originates from the French expression dernier ressort . While the concept itself had been used previously, the term "lender of last resort" was supposedly first used in its current context by Sir Francis Baring, in his Observations on the Establishment of the Bank of England, which was published in 1797 . In 1763, the king was the lender of last resort in Prussia . </P>

Who is the lender of last resort in the us