Post by Editor in Chief on Feb 20, 2008 22:49:55 GMT
Player banks are created when the owner of a commercial property installs a master bank counter. This is extremely expensive, costing 8000 talents ($A40,000) for the counter alone. Further costs are incurred in securing the lease to a commercial property, though that can vary widely depending on the competing bids placed by interested players.
Once the counter has been installed and the bank has been given a name, the owner can set the properties of the counter. This might include the fee charged for opening an account, as well as the percentage of deposits kept by the bank. The actual running of the bank, once leased and installed, is nil.
Additional "branches" of the bank can then be opened in other commercial properties. Franchise counters must be installed, which take up room in the property and further limit the amount of other inventory that commercial property can hold. These franchise counters have limited storage space for money, and must be periodically emptied into or filled from the master counter. The process of transferring funds has some cost, hence franchise counters typically need to charge a higher deposit fee than master bank counters.
Deposit and new account fees are not stored in the franchise or master counters, but in the cash float of the property itself. Account balances are also not stored in counters, but seperately with the "bank". The "bank" itself is not a physical structure, but rather the data involved with a bank, which should at least have the physical form of a master bank counter located somewhere. This means that when a franchise counter is destroyed, funds are still fully available at the master counter, and paid fees can still be accessed by the property owner in the shop float. If the master counter is destroyed, players can still withdraw or deposit funds at franchise counters, however the franchise counters will soon fill up or empty out. Because there is no master counter to transfer funds to or from, the franchise counter quickly becomes useless.
A new master counter can then be purchased, and installed under the name of the bank entity that the old master counter used. Once that has been accomplished (with the required creator intervention), all accounts become fully accessible again, and franchises can once more transfer money to and from the master counter. All account information is saved, since it is not stored in physical space.
This is not a realistic banking structure, however. If we look at the simplest bank structure on discworld, a lone master bank counter with no franchises, the short comings soon become apparent.
First of all, the counter to a large extent operates as the bank itself, rather than a simple piece of property of the bank. This is a problem when the counter acts as both property (destroyable) and as the bank (extremely expensive to replace). If we were to assume that the master counter is essentially a vault, destroying or removing it should be impossible, and it should cost a lot less to install a new one.
But creating a bank shouldn't be cheap! This is another problem with equatin the bank with the master counter. A bank is really just a company that offers the service of storing your money. Unfortunately, to purchase a bank (company) on discworld, you have to purchase the physical property it was created on. This means that if your discworld commercial property is destroyed, your bank is essentially destroyed until you recreate it. The bank cannot move to a different location without incurring extreme expense (basically setting up another bank) and getting creator help.
Ideally, the bank company and the bank counter and the leased bank shop space should all be seperate entities. A bank company would hold the name of the bank and all account information. The master counter would hold the funds BUT the master counter and those funds would be the legal property of the bank company. The lease of the property holding a bank, and the control of a bank company would thus be seperately acquired. Such a model for banks would allow the physical property to remain cheap, and charging the real money for the thing of real value: control of the bank company. Furthermore, bank companies would be able to merge, and become one entity with one name, operating from one pre-existing master counter.
Once the counter has been installed and the bank has been given a name, the owner can set the properties of the counter. This might include the fee charged for opening an account, as well as the percentage of deposits kept by the bank. The actual running of the bank, once leased and installed, is nil.
Additional "branches" of the bank can then be opened in other commercial properties. Franchise counters must be installed, which take up room in the property and further limit the amount of other inventory that commercial property can hold. These franchise counters have limited storage space for money, and must be periodically emptied into or filled from the master counter. The process of transferring funds has some cost, hence franchise counters typically need to charge a higher deposit fee than master bank counters.
Deposit and new account fees are not stored in the franchise or master counters, but in the cash float of the property itself. Account balances are also not stored in counters, but seperately with the "bank". The "bank" itself is not a physical structure, but rather the data involved with a bank, which should at least have the physical form of a master bank counter located somewhere. This means that when a franchise counter is destroyed, funds are still fully available at the master counter, and paid fees can still be accessed by the property owner in the shop float. If the master counter is destroyed, players can still withdraw or deposit funds at franchise counters, however the franchise counters will soon fill up or empty out. Because there is no master counter to transfer funds to or from, the franchise counter quickly becomes useless.
A new master counter can then be purchased, and installed under the name of the bank entity that the old master counter used. Once that has been accomplished (with the required creator intervention), all accounts become fully accessible again, and franchises can once more transfer money to and from the master counter. All account information is saved, since it is not stored in physical space.
This is not a realistic banking structure, however. If we look at the simplest bank structure on discworld, a lone master bank counter with no franchises, the short comings soon become apparent.
First of all, the counter to a large extent operates as the bank itself, rather than a simple piece of property of the bank. This is a problem when the counter acts as both property (destroyable) and as the bank (extremely expensive to replace). If we were to assume that the master counter is essentially a vault, destroying or removing it should be impossible, and it should cost a lot less to install a new one.
But creating a bank shouldn't be cheap! This is another problem with equatin the bank with the master counter. A bank is really just a company that offers the service of storing your money. Unfortunately, to purchase a bank (company) on discworld, you have to purchase the physical property it was created on. This means that if your discworld commercial property is destroyed, your bank is essentially destroyed until you recreate it. The bank cannot move to a different location without incurring extreme expense (basically setting up another bank) and getting creator help.
Ideally, the bank company and the bank counter and the leased bank shop space should all be seperate entities. A bank company would hold the name of the bank and all account information. The master counter would hold the funds BUT the master counter and those funds would be the legal property of the bank company. The lease of the property holding a bank, and the control of a bank company would thus be seperately acquired. Such a model for banks would allow the physical property to remain cheap, and charging the real money for the thing of real value: control of the bank company. Furthermore, bank companies would be able to merge, and become one entity with one name, operating from one pre-existing master counter.