On 10 December 1894, two of Newfoundland and Labrador's three banks closed their doors and never opened them again. The impacts were immediate and widespread – businesses collapsed, workers became suddenly unemployed, families lost their savings, and the country, which used the bank notes as its main source of currency, was left with no reliable circulating medium. Although the crash caught most people off guard, it was the result of many years of reckless banking amid a troubled fishery and declining economy. The banks depleted their own holdings to loan large sums of money to fish merchants already in debt and in turn had to borrow from other financial institutions. The process left the banks dependent on outside loans – if a crisis disturbed the process or if the banks' credit deteriorated, then they would be forced to close. This was the case on Black Monday, when the Union and Commercial Banks ceased operations permanently.