The reserves are there to provide liquidity for people who want to withdraw their funds in normal times.
The assets are mostly loans. The lenders sometimes fail to repay the loan, and the collateral may not be worth as much as initially estimated.
The bank has capital requirements, so that if loans are not replayed, the bank shareholders take the hit.
If the capital is depleted beyond a certain point, the regulators (and the FDIC in the US) take over the bank, wipe out the shareholders, and install new management. Depositors are repayed up to the insured amount and if there are remaining funds they go to the insured depositors, creditors, and shareholders in that order.
That's of course how thing are supposed to be done. In reality, large connected banks are often bailed out.