Banking

Banks in Eisen are regulated and controlled by The Association of Bankers and Moneylenders. There are strict rules on what terms a bank may customize, and what terms must be universally recognized by every bank under the guild’s purview. As a result of this codification under Guild laws, banking has seen something of a Renaissance in recent years.
Traditionally, banking was something reserved for the nobility, or very wealthy merchants, but banks have started to realize that the concept of ‘sell cheaply to many’ works for more than just mass-producing goods. Namely, they realized that the middle class might have less money individually than the upper class, but there is a LOT more of them. As a result, anyone living a ‘Modest’ lifestyle or higher can expect to have access to reliable banking. Any Guild-backed bank is ‘insured’ by the Guild in case of robbery, so money stored there can be considered ‘safe,’ and readily available to any PC with a little time and effort. The Guild also funds an elite group of investigators, bounty hunters, and soldiers - anyone robbing a Guild bank tends not to enjoy the fruits of their labor for very long.
The Guild also codifies exchange rates, and sets the standards used throughout Europa for the rate of exchange from gold to silver, how many Montaignian silver tournois it takes to be worth a Castillian gold escudo, and so on. (The ubiquity of this currency exchange means that PCs only need to concern themselves with silver, gold, platinum, etc., with it being assumed any foriegn coins they recieve get converted to Eisendish currency…minus a reasonable commission, of course.)
Loans, mortgages, and other lines of credit are available, but most banks tend to view ‘adventurers’ and ‘explorers’ to be a bad financial risk - they tend to prefer clients with more stable means of income, who are less likely to wind up in the stomach of an owlbear before they have repaid the money to buy their new sword of owlbear slaying.
Regulated terms

Eisen currency exchange rates

Foreign currency exchange rates

Individual banking terms

Interest rates

Appraisal

Primary Related Location

Europa

Related Organizations

• Eisen