Bank of Karradone
Banking in Tarien is, for the most part, a local endeavor. Many cities have businesses called banks that will gladly accept ones coin and other valuables and guarantee their safety. In exchange, they charge an annual fee, typically some fraction of the deposits value. These banks invest in securing these valuables, typically in large, windowless buildings with complicated locks and clever traps. In truth, they are more fortress than place of business.
The Bank of Karradone offers these same services. In fact, for two centuries, with Legionnaires spread thinly across the Empire they provided this service to the Imperial Treasury as their primary means of income. Their service proved both more effective and less expensive. They continually invested a large portion of their profits in increased security, something that became simpler as magic dwindled after the Mage Wars (though there are rumors that the Bank continues to contract with the Arcane Axis, despite the Imperial prohibition). Eventually the vault in Karradone became so secure that there was little left in which the Bank could reinvest.
A Vault in the Gartcha Branch of the Bank of Karradone
It was then that the Bank began to expand their business by applying their principles and strategies in other large cities across the Empire, opening vaults first in Phelandria, then Krellia and beyond, until they finally had vaults almost every major city in the Empire and its former holdings. Wile these vaults proved profitable, albeit not as profitable as the imperial account in Karradone, it was the next expansion that truly transformed the economy of the Inner Seas.
Seeing that merchants and nobles often dealt in larger and larger quantities of coin, often coming to the vaults to withdraw them in massive chests, they began to offer an alternative. They hired several scribes who drafted letters that would grant the bearer the right to obtain coin from the vault from another's holdings. Scribes secured these letters with complicated wax seals and, more importantly, creating ledgers of each letter granted or redeemed by the bank. These Letters of Currency, as they called them, became extremely popular with the Emperor. His stewards and other staff no longer managed large purchases in coin. As most letters were written to a specific bearer, security requirements became much lighter. If a letter was stolen, the Emperor could tell the Bank and they would strike it from the ledgers and have the bear arrested should he or she try to redeem it. The Bank, of course, charged a small fee for each letter written (or cancelled).
With this new influx of coin, the Bank thrived. Letters, which originally were valid only at the Karradone branch, soon became redeemable at vaults across the empire. This complicated ledger keeping, of course, and but with their extra coin, the Bank invested in better scribes, at one point hiring the entire faculty of mathematics from the University of Karradone so that several courses had to be canceled.
They are complete scoundrels who haven't done an honest day's work and yet their incomes far exceed that of my most profitable enterprise. And they call me a criminal.
In recent years, the Bank has even begun to dabble in usury. Typically the province of the Brotherhood of Thieves, where high repayment costs and dire threats encouraged than loans were quickly repaid, the Bank saw an opportunity to legitimize this business. By reserving a portion of their profits, they offered loans to nobles and craftsmen who agreed to pay them back with nominal interest, a little bit at a time over long periods. Over those periods, the small interest payments increased, making the loans quite popular. The Bank has even drafted legal documents securing these loans against the lands or businesses of the borrower so that if something should happen, they can then sell the land to cover their costs. While this concept has yet to be put to the legal test, scholars believe it to be within imperial law. Unlike their other services, loans are only available in select locations.
Type
Financial, Bank
Location
Branches
The bank operates in cities and towns across several different nation-states including Eldoria, Geltamar, Mon Finn, Prydith, Grennig, Yaty, and Gartcha. Other logical locations are either too chaotic (Sarya's Republic), farflung (Zennon and Galencia, or simply hostile to business (Grand Duchy of His Lord Mennith). The Bank directors have discussed expanding into Azermathia, but have yet to formalize a plan.
Services
Not all services are available at each branch. In addition, each branch has strict limits on the amount of gold that for which a letter of currency may be redeemed or loan taken. In all cases, the Bank charges a fee, typically between one and five percent, for a loan, letter, or security. Letters have lower fees, but charges are levied when they are both written and redeemed.