On Fri, 25 Sep 2020 05:23:49 +1000, Alex Goodwin
<xxxxxx@multitel.com.au> wrote:

>On 25/9/20 5:02 am, Jeff Zeitlin wrote:
>> On Fri, 25 Sep 2020 04:30:02 +1000, Alex Goodwin
>> <xxxxxx@multitel.com.au> wrote:
>>
>>> I have yet to fully introduce the effects lack of faster-than-travel
>>> comms has had on banking.  That should be interesting.

>> It is likely that your banking model would have little resemblance to
>> today's, and would look a lot more like that of the late-Medieval/
>> early-Renaissance period in Europe - letters of credit or equivalent
>> carried between "branches" which would be owned by the same "family" or
>> corporation. Balancing accounts would involve shipping valuta between
>> branches. This can involve a "network of trust" if, for example, the ship
>> is going from Terra to Ish Kabibble, but no bank has branches on both; they
>> may have to detour to Timbuck Two, where TerraBank/Timbuck will accept the
>> letter of credit from TerraBank/Terra, and arrange a letter of credit from
>> TimBank, which _does_ have a branch on Ish Kabibble.
>>
>> It's also possible that the ship, instead of dealing with LoC, may end up
>> carrying valuta itself.
>>
>> Which opens up Opportunities for the referee...

>GT: Far Trader did flesh this out, and I'll probably steal (even more)
>from said book.

>In your example, wouldn't TimBank be a correspondent bank of TerraBank ?

That depends on what you mean by "correspondent bank". On Timbuck Two,
TerraBank and TimBank don't need to have a closer relationship than (say)
HSBC and CitiBank do here/today - that is, accounts can be verified and
monies transferred routinely between them in accordance with the Timbuck
Banking and Insurance Regulatory Agency.

>As for the chain of deals/LoC... that depends on how sadistic I want to
>get.  You can only lead your players up the garden path so many times
>before they say "to hell with this, let's go play something else".

This is true, and something that the referee always needs to keep in mind.
Sometimes realism has to "give" in favor of gamism.

>I first ran into "valuta" in GURPS Cyberworld (and then "The Moon Is A
>Harsh Mistress") - in G:CW context, was any reasonably-hard currency
>that you wanted to get paid in, and hang onto.  Between Cyberworld and
>TMIAHM, thought was Russian term.  Is apparently Italian.

In reality, "valuta" is _anything_ that is perceived as having intrinsic
value - trade goods, precious metals, precious and semiprecious stones,
etc.

Usually, for Medieval/Renaissance banks, it was gold and silver, but if
you've read Heinlein's _"The Number of the Beast--"_, it's clear that Zeb
ultimately considers things like Hilda's mink stole to be included in the
term.

And yes, the term originates from the Italian; Italy - more specifically,
Venice - was a preeminent "banking" centre.

®Traveller is a registered trademark of
Far Future Enterprises, 1977-2020. Use of
the trademark in this notice and in the
referenced materials is not intended to
infringe or devalue the trademark.

--
Jeff Zeitlin, Editor
Freelance Traveller
    The Electronic Fan-Supported Traveller® Resource
xxxxxx@freelancetraveller.com
http://www.freelancetraveller.com

Freelance Traveller extends its thanks to the following
enterprises for hosting services:

onCloud/CyberWeb Enterprises (http://www.oncloud.io)
The Traveller Downport (http://www.downport.com)