Imperial Banking System

The Eyrian Imperial Banking System has no banks. That is the first thing. The Banking Ministry serves as a "Good Housekeeping seal" of quality for any bank that subjects itself to the standards of the Banking system.
==History==
All banks in the Empire are private. A single fortune or a body of investors creates a bank, holds funds and loans money. Such places tend to be squat buildings with thick walls as money in Eyrie goes "clink". If it is not in your vault you don't have it.
For hundreds of years this was sufficient. Then some bright boy got the idea that if Knights could write checks, they could issue such. Shortly after that the first check kiting scheme was run, by the bank itself. People lost money, necks stretched. 
In the wake of the scandal Tesral mused about what to do. In the end he appointed Suszan McDonnald, the wife of Coran the Golden, a woman familiar with banks from the world she came from, to form the Imperial Banking Ministry.
==Pratice==
The Imperial Banking Ministry has a set of best practices. How to judge risk, policy on capital retention, and so forth, Pratices that will hold your bank steady through the storms of business.
To become an Imperuial bank you subject your bank to regular audtis by the Ministry of Banking to the fact that you are foillwing these pratices. If you pass, you get to add "Imperial" to the front of your bank's name. A stamp of approval which can be withdrawn should you fail a furture audit. It is not one and done.
No one is required to be subject to the audit system, but in pratice while you can exist as a "Bank of Jones" if the "Imperial Bank of Smith" is in town you will suffer. An Imperial bank for good reason garners more trust.
Category:Greyhawke
Category:Business