The Imperial Banking Trust of Murinia (Murinali: Thāsecendaqaphi Masrephi Murinat) is a the central bank of the Murinal Empire, and Selt's main international financial institution. It has offices throughout the civilized world, following the existence of international trade, with the notable exception of the Aelian States, from which it was expelled in the late 17th century, having earned the ire of the authorities there by financing a war to topple the Pustilian Illuminant. The Bank is distinct from the Imperial Treasury (Murinali: Gamsorati Masrephat), to which its profits have historically been directed.
The Bank owes much of its success outside the Murinal Empire, where lending on interest is its statutory monopoly, to its efficient system of ledgers and financial correspondence. The bank reduces its vulnerability to bandits and pirates by moving specie as infrequently as possible, instead sending letters describing accounts and transactions between its branches. Further efficiency is obtained by the use of secret codes, the design of which allows the contents of documents to be kept secure from the couriers who transport them. The system is highly developed in the modern day, and the code is widely considered to be unbreakable. The detailed design of the system was obtained from officers of the Bank under duress during the Aelian confiscations of Bank property, but the Bank changed some of the details and continued using the same system successfully. Since the system necessitates good communications between its offices, the bank also offers postal services to the public. In some cities, this is interfaced effectively with a local postal service; in others, it is necessary that customers pick up their mail at the bank.
The Bank is a fractional reserve bank. Its reserve ratio is not publicly stated, but the bank is ostensibly backed by the silver remaining in ground in Great Murinia, which all belongs to the Imperial Crown. Silver has been mined in the region for centuries, but is not believed to be in danger of exhaustion in the short or medium term.
The exact financial services the Bank offers at a given branch depend on the law of the nation hosting it and local demand. In some countries, like Great Anshan, which have their own highly centralized finance, the Bank does business only with major merchants involved in foreign trade, diplomats, and with the host state itself. In others, the bank provides ordinary savings and loan services. For example, in the Kingdom of Heghom and the Maritimes, the bank is a major provider of consumer credit, but has local competitors. In the Empire of Atsef, banks are forbidden by usury laws from making loans on interest, except for business investments at a low rate of simple interest. The IBTM employs various creative legal schemes to circumvent this and allow it to effectively offer consumer credit services, mortgages on houses, and so forth. For its trouble, the Bank enjoys a near-monopoly on this activity in the Divided Empire.
The Bank was brought to the brink of ruin by heavy investment in the war against the Pustilian Illuminant and the Presently Guided Temple, which went poorly for the coalition it financed. Many of its debtors defaulted, and the Bank's assets in the Aelian States were seized; it had to pay further ransoms for the return of its officers. The loss of the precious metals held in its vaults in the Aelian States was quite significant, because the Aelian States had a significant trade imbalance with the Southern Continent. Aelian traders deposited specie with the Bank in their homeland, and its value was added to their accounts, which was then used to purchase goods overseas. Those goods were shipped to the Aelian States, but the precious metals remained physically there too. In the past, treasure ships would be chartered to rectify such an imbalance, but with the threat of pirates and privateers in that time of geopolitical instability preceding war, the Aelian branches of the bank had been allowed to accumulate years worth of deposits. This decision was not without its critics; the previous Grand Vizier had considered a treasure fleet guarded by the Imperial Navy, but rejected the option as too expensive.
In the end, the Bank was bailed out by a fabulously wealthy merchant, Jiseenr Raō. Jiseenr, with the consent of the Grandees of Great Murinia, thereby obtained a right to take 1/3rd of the Bank's profit for himself and his heirs, for fifty years. Jiseenr, as Grand Vizier, also obtained lucrative trading trading concessions for the Empire in exchange for debt forgiveness. Given how profitable the bank has historically been for the Imperial Treasury, it is expected that Jiseenr's heirs will make back the investment many times over.