Cash in Traveller
- Thread starter Ambassadore G'car
- Start date
shadowdragon
SOC-12
I imagined it was something along the lines of a Shadowrun credstick. Your money is loaded onto it by the bank and when it runs out you're broke. Highly encrypted and requires a dedicated reader to access it. Allows for easy transfer of funds from world to world and keeps a transaction log. In more sophisticated designs it can double as an identity device and provide proof of the various licenses your characters carry.
Having played both CT & SR, I'd have to say that I'm not sure that's going top work really well. The SR genre assumes instant communications to the financial network. Even certified credsticks are based on a certain amount of verification that isn't available when you have a two week turnaround. You also have a wide variety of tech levels to consider. Imperial money would almost have to be something physical. Electrons are just too easy to fake. Quantum entanglement? That may work for FTL comms.
Mike Timmins
SoCar-37
shadowdragon
SOC-12
Quantum Entanglement - the only time you WANT Ma Bells lines crossed!
Renaissance Man
SOC-12
I'm pretty sure there's another thread in here that works on this problem... but I'm having trouble digging it up.
Nevertheless, IIRC, there's something we're missing here.
International banking got along quite well for millennia before the advent of instant electronic transactions and global telecommunications. Long distances, and long weight times don't mean you can't have an interstellar system of trade and credit that works.
As with all systems, international (or interstellar) banking relies on confidence. You can have all the security you want, at a certain level, you're just trusting that the bank at one end will honour a letter of credit from the other. In ancient times letters of credit were redeemed based on bonds of trust built up through individual business relationships, religious orders, guilds, and noble houses. Transpose to 3I and you can clearly see that the most pervasive basis (though not the only one) for interstellar banking is the Imperial nobility.
Imperial nobility are registered and known on every Imperial world, most importantly data hubs like Sylea, and accounts are reconciled through secure x-boat data. Nobles of sufficient rank can even outrun their credit and draw "on their honour." The function of Imperial nobles is clear from the literature -- they are expected to have a strong sense of duty and trustworthiness to keep the wheels of the Imperium rolling on over vast interstellar distances. If they can be trusted with governing in the name of the emperor, surely they can be trusted with a few hundred KCr.
Nobles form the backbone, but a noble or group of nobles backed up by some significant capital can set up an interstellar bank or credit service available to common travellers and traders. Given enough lead time for information to be registered with a branch at a destination, interstellar travellers can expect their cash to be available on arrival. Those with ship shares at dock have natural collateral and thus traders can draw against it if they happen to outrun their account. Interstellar banking grows hand in hand with trade. Thus so too does the power of the Imperial nobility.
There are parallel, overlapping interstellar banking systems. Merchant houses honour credit from their captains, and also have accounts with Imperial banks, so individual ships have access to liquidity. Another 3I parallel to a guild-based interstellar credit network -- Traveller's Aid Society.
Now it's clear that membership has it's privileges. When you "cash in" your mid-passage, that currency is available throughout TAS' area of operation.
The notion of unforgeable currency is alien to me. If you have the tech to make it, you have the tech to break it. I do not therefore envisage Imperial "currency" except insofar as there is a rate of exchange against ImpCr. Some worlds may have a fixed rate, some may have a floating rate, depending on individual negotiations and balance of power arrangements. As always, barter in goods with reasonably universally recognized value (gold pressed latinum?) is the most reliable currency; plenty of far traders have devoted some of their cargo holds to goods with a high value to weight ratio as a way to get themselves through space where interstellar banking is weak.
Fact is, there is no neat and clean solution to the logistical challenges posed by the TU; that's part of the allure. Just as in the Age of Sail, a plethora of parallel patchwork systems, quite mature and functional, are the order of the day. Defrauding these systems is possible, and consequences are harsh -- the least of which is the loss of ones ability to use them. A traveller who is mud in the eyes of the banks is an interstellar mendicant by default. Adventures have been built on less.
Nevertheless, IIRC, there's something we're missing here.
International banking got along quite well for millennia before the advent of instant electronic transactions and global telecommunications. Long distances, and long weight times don't mean you can't have an interstellar system of trade and credit that works.
As with all systems, international (or interstellar) banking relies on confidence. You can have all the security you want, at a certain level, you're just trusting that the bank at one end will honour a letter of credit from the other. In ancient times letters of credit were redeemed based on bonds of trust built up through individual business relationships, religious orders, guilds, and noble houses. Transpose to 3I and you can clearly see that the most pervasive basis (though not the only one) for interstellar banking is the Imperial nobility.
Imperial nobility are registered and known on every Imperial world, most importantly data hubs like Sylea, and accounts are reconciled through secure x-boat data. Nobles of sufficient rank can even outrun their credit and draw "on their honour." The function of Imperial nobles is clear from the literature -- they are expected to have a strong sense of duty and trustworthiness to keep the wheels of the Imperium rolling on over vast interstellar distances. If they can be trusted with governing in the name of the emperor, surely they can be trusted with a few hundred KCr.
Nobles form the backbone, but a noble or group of nobles backed up by some significant capital can set up an interstellar bank or credit service available to common travellers and traders. Given enough lead time for information to be registered with a branch at a destination, interstellar travellers can expect their cash to be available on arrival. Those with ship shares at dock have natural collateral and thus traders can draw against it if they happen to outrun their account. Interstellar banking grows hand in hand with trade. Thus so too does the power of the Imperial nobility.
There are parallel, overlapping interstellar banking systems. Merchant houses honour credit from their captains, and also have accounts with Imperial banks, so individual ships have access to liquidity. Another 3I parallel to a guild-based interstellar credit network -- Traveller's Aid Society.
Now it's clear that membership has it's privileges. When you "cash in" your mid-passage, that currency is available throughout TAS' area of operation.
The notion of unforgeable currency is alien to me. If you have the tech to make it, you have the tech to break it. I do not therefore envisage Imperial "currency" except insofar as there is a rate of exchange against ImpCr. Some worlds may have a fixed rate, some may have a floating rate, depending on individual negotiations and balance of power arrangements. As always, barter in goods with reasonably universally recognized value (gold pressed latinum?) is the most reliable currency; plenty of far traders have devoted some of their cargo holds to goods with a high value to weight ratio as a way to get themselves through space where interstellar banking is weak.
Fact is, there is no neat and clean solution to the logistical challenges posed by the TU; that's part of the allure. Just as in the Age of Sail, a plethora of parallel patchwork systems, quite mature and functional, are the order of the day. Defrauding these systems is possible, and consequences are harsh -- the least of which is the loss of ones ability to use them. A traveller who is mud in the eyes of the banks is an interstellar mendicant by default. Adventures have been built on less.
To expand on what was just said - an excellent example is some of the early medieval banking systems run by families, and which continue amongst certain cultures today.
The theory being if I give cousin A on this world 10kcr, he writes me a note with the family sign that lets me then visit cousin B on any other who verifies the secret markings and can then relay the money to me - or to another i have passed the note to in payment. Minus of course a small commission for the family...
Yes, the system could certainly be compromised - but part of the inherent stability is that EVERYONE uses and trusts the system - the bad guys no more want a secure, private transaction compromised than the good guys. Therefore everyone plays within the status quo to keep the system working.
IMTU I envision several noble houses whose only claim to the title is the role as banking houses. With the coveted "banking house to the emperor" being of course the spot all jockey for...
The theory being if I give cousin A on this world 10kcr, he writes me a note with the family sign that lets me then visit cousin B on any other who verifies the secret markings and can then relay the money to me - or to another i have passed the note to in payment. Minus of course a small commission for the family...
Yes, the system could certainly be compromised - but part of the inherent stability is that EVERYONE uses and trusts the system - the bad guys no more want a secure, private transaction compromised than the good guys. Therefore everyone plays within the status quo to keep the system working.
IMTU I envision several noble houses whose only claim to the title is the role as banking houses. With the coveted "banking house to the emperor" being of course the spot all jockey for...
Trust only goes so far... literally. A letter of credit is only good so long as the issuer is known and trusted, and/or there's someone going back to where they are trusted.
Specie currencies, likewise, are only valued when either they can be verified, or where the issuer is trusted to use what is claimed as that currency's basis. In other words, Baronet Busybody of Minorworld might issue a gold specie coin worth Cr5, and his locals accept it as that, as do those nearby, since he uses a marked mix of 75% gold and 25% iron... but once you get to where he's just a name on a list, the currency is not trusted worth Cr5, but maybe only Cr2, or even Cr1, at least without an alloy verification... and even then, probably only Cr4.5 since it's not trusted and there are costs for verification. Meanwhile, Count Jerkwad of Somewherebig issues a Cr5 coin of 50% Gold, 50% lead... but it weighs the same as Baronet Busybody's... locals will use it, having little choice; the neighbors will devalue it to Cr3 KNOWING it's not worth the face, and distant people will suspect it of even less.
Electronic Currencies and letters of credit have the issue that verification can not be assured locally, but only with contact with the issuer. That contact might be by cipher code, verification of the letter, or even by call-back... or multiple routed sub-component poly-key encryption.
Specie currencies, likewise, are only valued when either they can be verified, or where the issuer is trusted to use what is claimed as that currency's basis. In other words, Baronet Busybody of Minorworld might issue a gold specie coin worth Cr5, and his locals accept it as that, as do those nearby, since he uses a marked mix of 75% gold and 25% iron... but once you get to where he's just a name on a list, the currency is not trusted worth Cr5, but maybe only Cr2, or even Cr1, at least without an alloy verification... and even then, probably only Cr4.5 since it's not trusted and there are costs for verification. Meanwhile, Count Jerkwad of Somewherebig issues a Cr5 coin of 50% Gold, 50% lead... but it weighs the same as Baronet Busybody's... locals will use it, having little choice; the neighbors will devalue it to Cr3 KNOWING it's not worth the face, and distant people will suspect it of even less.
Electronic Currencies and letters of credit have the issue that verification can not be assured locally, but only with contact with the issuer. That contact might be by cipher code, verification of the letter, or even by call-back... or multiple routed sub-component poly-key encryption.
CosmicGamer
SOC-14 1K
If John Doe citizen writes a personal letter of credit to his sister Jane Doe it won't hold much water even if she travels with John Doe beside her.
To me it is obvious that if you need to use credit when traveling you should do some research before hand to see what will be accepted. Will they take some letter from a local bank, a credit card, Travellers vouchers? Does this really need to be pre-defined for every populated system? Personally, I don't think this is something that needs to be thought about unless you are on a world that has very little trade or contact outside the system. In this case they may not even take Imperial credits or anything else you think of as typical currency. Hope you brought a few bottles of fire water!
Personally, I don't see why 'hard' currency is 'verifiable' and Electronic Currencies and letters of credit are not. Especially since all can be issued and backed and made secure by the very same institution.
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If John Doe citizen writes a personal letter of credit to his sister Jane Doe it won't hold much water even if she travels with John Doe beside her.
To me it is obvious that if you need to use credit when traveling you should do some research before hand to see what will be accepted. Will they take some letter from a local bank, a credit card, Travellers vouchers? Does this really need to be pre-defined for every populated system? Personally, I don't think this is something that needs to be thought about unless you are on a world that has very little trade or contact outside the system. In this case they may not even take Imperial credits or anything else you think of as typical currency. Hope you brought a few bottles of fire water!
Personally, I don't see why 'hard' currency is 'verifiable' and Electronic Currencies and letters of credit are not. Especially since all can be issued and backed and made secure by the very same institution.
Truly hard currencies, properly called specie, are valuable materials in their own right. Gold, Silver, Platinum, and Copper are all valuable industrial metals as well as their beauty value. Currently, for example, a copper-zinc penny has a material value of about 1.1¢, despite a face of 1¢. (Hence why the new ones use a cheaper mix.)
The other form of "hard" currency is one which is fully backed by some essential substance held in reserve, with notes or coins as tokens of deposit. In Dune, the water rings are a hard currency; each represents a set amount of a precious commodity held in reserve. US paper monies from 1840 to about 1940 were in fact hard currencies as well, with post WWII notes ceasing to be fully backed; until the mid 1970's, US coins still were valued as specie, containing enough silver to account for their face value; the nickel (5¢ piece) is in fact so called because it was nickel and silver.
Most modern coins are not specie, nor reserve allocation tokens, however, and thus are not properly hard currencies. The Euro and US coins lack sufficient precious metals to account for their face value; they are thus properly fiat coins.
A pre1965 US dime would have the same rough value to any local world that can test it: 2.268 grams at 90% silver, or roughly 2.04g of silver @.99 fine, and the 0.228g copper. A pre 1966 Canadian had roughly 5/9 the silver value, and thus about 70% of the value, of its nearly identical mass US dime cousin.
In fact older bills said in the denomination "pay to the bearer on demand 'X' dollars"
So long as the recipient has a reasonable expectation that the currency you're giving (him/her/it) is worth what you're telling them it's worth, all is good. Problems ensue when the percieved values are different. This is the concern of major finance & governments, too
SoCar37
Specie currencies are the most stable values; inflation skyrocketed after we went off a backed currency.
Species currency isn't stable, it's inflexible. Inflation skyrocketed in Spain when it got more gold and silver from the Americas than the economy could accomodate. And you get deflation if the economy expands without new gold being dug up to match.
Paper currency can be very stable, as long as the entity issuing the bills 1) knows what it is doing and 2) prioritize keeping the currency stable.
Hans
Commander Truestar
SOC-13
Having played both CT & SR, I'd have to say that I'm not sure that's going top work really well. The SR genre assumes instant communications to the financial network. Even certified credsticks are based on a certain amount of verification that isn't available when you have a two week turnaround. You also have a wide variety of tech levels to consider. Imperial money would almost have to be something physical. Electrons are just too easy to fake. Quantum entanglement? That may work for FTL comms.
Mike Timmins
SoCar-37
Actually, Having just found this thread, you are wrng on your assumption of two week turnarounds. IN Traveller there is an XBoat system. Granted it is not explicitly stated, but since financial activity is the life's blood of The Imperium, Financial data transfer has to be a HUGE priority. As a result, financial data is constantly being moved to the ports for transfer to other systems.
So lets look at two examples which can show you how this works:
1) Sam is heading to Porozlo from Risek. Once he has his visa and other travel docs ready, he punches up the port and orders his tickets(One actual for outbound and a bond for his return) for travel. He then heads to the union bank of Averge workers and withdraws the funds he expects to need(plus half again) from his account and that balance is stored (on his Imperial Identification IMTU) on an electronic card that Canon suggests exists and is not hackable. He then waits the few days until it is time to travel and takes ship and the craft hauls him to Jae Tellona. With in the time he was waitin, his bank communicated with one of the financial agencies that brioadcasts Fi-Data to other reporting agencies. That agency has send a digest to the xboat system and it is on its way to both Jae Tellona, Rhylanor and beyond. Sam actually gets to Jae Tellona after his data does, and there is a day's layover at the high port. Since there a high enough tech, he can just go aboard the station(or even take a shore excursion shuttle to the downport) using his electronic money. However, if he plans to ctross the extrality line and leave the downport, he will have to visit one of several of the on-port money exchangers. There he can draw cash or local currency adn the records are bounced to the highport for reporting via another agency in this system.
Now Sam will be travelling more or less at the current speed of his most recent fincncial data. But that new data is duplicated on his "CreditChip"(the term I use IMTU). He gets to Rhylanor where his advance data is matched against the updated account data on his chip until the data from the xboat system is reconciled with the advance data dn the chip data. Sam has two days lay over before making the jump to Porozlo. His data may well go out before him or be carried on the Subbie he is booked on. Either way, the dirtside banks all are external to the Imperial System. So Sam's information is held by the Imperial banks on the highport. In order to go dirt side, he must withdraw from his accounts at the high port and then take a shuttle down below....
Here is example two.
The locations on Porozlo are not always high enough tech to use electronic funds. As a result, Sam has cold hard currency based on the station's financial advise and his goals. He is going to one of the many countries dirt side so he exchanges his currency to that nation's currency(or is advised they are Imperial friendly and will accept CRImps). He takes his shuttle dirtside and the withdrawal he made is entered nito the Imperial Banks through the reporting agency. Sam completes his business which may or may not have included him opening up a transient account with a dirt side bank. Once done, he clears his dirt side accounts and returns to the shuttle port for the ride back to the high port and everything happens in reverse
And having worked at the core of wall Street, you would be amazed how many reporting agencies are working on everything. There are trade and exchange numbers for every transaction and the only way that can fail is when no one is checking(Bernie Madoff).
And, in the OTU data always travels faster than people except in the very far extents where technology fails. And there you have to carry cash or trade items...period.
At least that is how I see it :d
Marc
BlackBat242
SOC-14 1K
To me it is obvious that if you need to use credit when traveling you should do some research before hand to see what will be accepted. Will they take some letter from a local bank, a credit card, Travellers vouchers? Does this really need to be pre-defined for every populated system? Personally, I don't think this is something that needs to be thought about unless you are on a world that has very little trade or contact outside the system. In this case they may not even take Imperial credits or anything else you think of as typical currency. Hope you brought a few bottles of fire water!
Which is one possibility for "yellow zone/red zone" classification of worlds.
I can't remember exactly which one it was, but I remember a sub-sector that had at least 1/3 of its systems marked as "red zones"... perhaps that was due to a local refusal to accept standard interstellar financial transactions like we are discussing (or being "black-balled" by such institutions)?
Icosahedron
SOC-14 1K
The main issue for any currency is trust and verification.
Your 10Cr coin that's made of 10Cr worth of gold is only accepted if the receiver is pretty sure it's made of gold and not 50% depleted Uranium. Likewise with a banknote or letter of credit, it's only accepted on trust or verification.
Perhaps the fundamental difference between the Traveller universe and our modern society would be speed of transactions. In a society where communication is slow, I see it as likely that society would alter to accommodate that fact. Unlike our 'I want it now' society, perhaps the Traveller business model would be slower. It might be considered very bad form to jump into a system, attempt to purchase something and then jump out again rapidly before one's credit rating information has caught up.
A degree of trust between merchants and/or their backers may allow for speedier transactions, and each merchant will be careful not to forfeit the trust he holds as it governs his transaction rate. A known defaulter will have to wait for verification before he can engage in business - providing his rivals with an edge.
Your 10Cr coin that's made of 10Cr worth of gold is only accepted if the receiver is pretty sure it's made of gold and not 50% depleted Uranium. Likewise with a banknote or letter of credit, it's only accepted on trust or verification.
Perhaps the fundamental difference between the Traveller universe and our modern society would be speed of transactions. In a society where communication is slow, I see it as likely that society would alter to accommodate that fact. Unlike our 'I want it now' society, perhaps the Traveller business model would be slower. It might be considered very bad form to jump into a system, attempt to purchase something and then jump out again rapidly before one's credit rating information has caught up.
A degree of trust between merchants and/or their backers may allow for speedier transactions, and each merchant will be careful not to forfeit the trust he holds as it governs his transaction rate. A known defaulter will have to wait for verification before he can engage in business - providing his rivals with an edge.
Commander Truestar
SOC-13
and this is what I "believe" mandates a banking system.
who knows if the trader is trust worthy? Are you gonna take the word of the other guy who says he is? Or the patron who also is likely not telling you everything behind why he hired you?
But banks are established on their worlds... They must follow and adhere to many regulations and participate in data sharing. If a trader lies, good luck finding him again! If a bank lies, you know where they live and who to report them to.
So, where trust is an issue...trust the Imperial regulatory machine(IE: Hope they are not the SEC of the US), check with TAS(who - I am certain - run a bank much like the Knights Templar - who also started out helping pilgrims / travellers) and go with those banks who's reputations(along with having many branches on the worlds of the local cluster) prove they have too much to loose by trying to screw you.
Marc
Verification of transfer orders (letters of credit) can be as low as 12 days or as much as 28 per jump needed on the canonical X-boat net.
Validation (which is different) can be sent simultaneously, for ±2 days per jump.
Why the wide variation?
1) The X-Boat system comprises two separate leg types: Courier runs and X-Boat Runs.
2) Jump variation is 6-8 days per jump
3) TTB states that XBoat turn-around times are as low as an hour, and "seldom more than 4 hours"
4) Bk 6 states that small couriers connect the rest of the worlds to the XBoat system via an unscheduled system.
#3 implies 9+ Xboats per leg to insure one is ready to go every day... every four hours would mean 8x6=48, adding some overlap, 50 per leg. That's QUITE the traffic load. Oh, and that's "each way"... so at a minimum, 18 per leg, and maybe as much as 100 per leg for 2-way links using X-Boats.
#4 is likely to be 8-14 days per each. Most systems would expect a weekly courier; that would imply 4 per link (1 each way in jump, 1 each way in system) plus some spares (1 per 12 in CT, therefore 1 per 3 systems, minimum) or roughly 4.4 per system other than an XBoat hub. Perhaps even more, as many as 100 per link for major systems.
so, along the X-boat route, figure every 4 hours a ship leaves, and that will average 7.2 days per jump; if the system isn't major, add another 8-14 days to meet up with the courier on that leg.
Verification means contacting the originator, and asking if they actually authorized the transfer. That means two jumps per leg; one each way... and also verification time (1-64 hours assuming a "normal" workweek).
Validation, however, is just independent corroboration of the transfer. This can either be: broadcast, in which case, it's probably a bit of an expense, and they're batched and sent on a schedule; or targeted, being sent to a specific system for redemption permissions. It can even be staggered... break into parts, and send them on 3 separate dates...
The problem is that validation requires overlap of transit systems, and moves only as fast as the mail. Verification requires a transit system and an active response.
Further, financial transfersgenerally work by reciprocity; Bank A seldom ships specie nor physical credits to B; they both honor each other's transfers, and ideally, they balance out; when they don't, covering for Bank C, etc, to balance things out.
Such balancing requires good communication. Not of need FAST communication, but good. When someone interrupts the communication, or worse, successfully fakes adding verifications and validations, then the system breaks... badly.
Validation (which is different) can be sent simultaneously, for ±2 days per jump.
Why the wide variation?
1) The X-Boat system comprises two separate leg types: Courier runs and X-Boat Runs.
2) Jump variation is 6-8 days per jump
3) TTB states that XBoat turn-around times are as low as an hour, and "seldom more than 4 hours"
4) Bk 6 states that small couriers connect the rest of the worlds to the XBoat system via an unscheduled system.
#3 implies 9+ Xboats per leg to insure one is ready to go every day... every four hours would mean 8x6=48, adding some overlap, 50 per leg. That's QUITE the traffic load. Oh, and that's "each way"... so at a minimum, 18 per leg, and maybe as much as 100 per leg for 2-way links using X-Boats.
#4 is likely to be 8-14 days per each. Most systems would expect a weekly courier; that would imply 4 per link (1 each way in jump, 1 each way in system) plus some spares (1 per 12 in CT, therefore 1 per 3 systems, minimum) or roughly 4.4 per system other than an XBoat hub. Perhaps even more, as many as 100 per link for major systems.
so, along the X-boat route, figure every 4 hours a ship leaves, and that will average 7.2 days per jump; if the system isn't major, add another 8-14 days to meet up with the courier on that leg.
Verification means contacting the originator, and asking if they actually authorized the transfer. That means two jumps per leg; one each way... and also verification time (1-64 hours assuming a "normal" workweek).
Validation, however, is just independent corroboration of the transfer. This can either be: broadcast, in which case, it's probably a bit of an expense, and they're batched and sent on a schedule; or targeted, being sent to a specific system for redemption permissions. It can even be staggered... break into parts, and send them on 3 separate dates...
The problem is that validation requires overlap of transit systems, and moves only as fast as the mail. Verification requires a transit system and an active response.
Further, financial transfersgenerally work by reciprocity; Bank A seldom ships specie nor physical credits to B; they both honor each other's transfers, and ideally, they balance out; when they don't, covering for Bank C, etc, to balance things out.
Such balancing requires good communication. Not of need FAST communication, but good. When someone interrupts the communication, or worse, successfully fakes adding verifications and validations, then the system breaks... badly.
Peter Schutze
SOC-12
>is pretty sure it's made of gold and not 50% depleted Uranium
the things you learn reading the finance sections of the papers {chuckle}
its actually gold and titanium have (almost) the same weight/density
uranium and lead have totally different (lower) mass per cubic whatevers so your gold coin might not be obviously wrong unless put on a scale, a fake ingot will feel totally wrong to anyone familiar with them
the things you learn reading the finance sections of the papers {chuckle}
its actually gold and titanium have (almost) the same weight/density
uranium and lead have totally different (lower) mass per cubic whatevers so your gold coin might not be obviously wrong unless put on a scale, a fake ingot will feel totally wrong to anyone familiar with them
Icosahedron
SOC-14 1K
I suggest you re-check your densities, Peter.
Commander Truestar
SOC-13
And this is where I feel you go off the rails according to my professional expeience.
You assume that any financial institution will only have first heard of a transaction when the person benefitting from the tranaction arrives to put a call on the funds...
This is wrong and has been since the days of paper ledgers!
While there have been significant failuers when organizations and regulators do not follow their own rules, there are huge hosts of agencies and organizations that track and record all activities.
Case in point from one of the most recent and spectacular failures...Bernard Madoff.
When you call a broker to buy or sell a financial instrument(Stock, Bond, etc...) they create a transaction record and tie all of their communciations to that.
They then call their middle market brokerage and a new record is made there as they begin the process of placing their action on the actual market.
Large organizations may skip that step and place their offers directly into the market through the clearing structures built in to their corporation...where that second record is created as the deal changes hands between in-house subsidiaries.
Finally, the deal appears on the market itself and a participants in the market see it. Someone on the other side of the coin accepts the price offered or demanded and a deal is agreed on. This is recorded by both sides in a new common record which can be sent to the next level.
No matter the auditors and other structural organizations that get this data at this level, the deal is not yet done. The deal must be executed. This is the level I worked at.
Once the deal is executed, by one of a very few top level organizations in any financial market, it is finally done and funds and assets change ownership.
So how did Madoff do it? By creating a legitimate business and then making up numbers that looked real for fake transactions hidden behind a wall of real activity. By then using knowlege of the regulatory systems he used to manage and his reputation and fiends to keep the data from beeing looked at...
But it was all there. And the slowly growing number of people who were loknig at it were screaming at the SEC for years.
So why does this mean you are wrong? Because no significant financial system can functino without a huge amount of checks and balances behind it. Every day, all financial organziations report ALL of their dealing with their main regional HQ. They also have entire departments who's after market hours job it is to organize transactions into "books", where each book tracks transactions to one specific partner.
All of this is then traded with the partner in questino to make sure that all parties got the deal information correct and to resolve "broken deals" where one side or the other is in error.
In addition, all this is sent to government regulators and the core market operators(NASDAC, NYSE, Etc..)
Every night, EVERYONE checks their books so that they know where all the prics and assets are for the next day's trading.
All this is transmitted globally
As was worked out here, this data is transmitted, from any tech above 6, on the xboat routes every 4 hours.
So by the time your traveller has been told they has the loan they applied for two days ago, that data ahs already been broadcast to the x-network and is ALREADY in jump.
By the time that traeller gets to their ship and makes their leasurely way out to the 100d limit, that information has been beamed at light spedd to an xboat which has jumpped.
by the time the traveller's ship arrives at its destination, the xboat has arrived before it and the data was broadcast to a financial data clearing house on world.
And by the time your traveller goes to pick up their cash at the east bank of Nowhere, that data has been detailed, listed and stacked in data retrival so that when the bank calls the on-world clearing house, they need only look up the data by account number and confirm the transaction from pretransmitted data.
And this is the "Short" description of a process that can fill not just books but libraries.
Granted, the further off the xboat route you get, the more of a delay you will encounter. But that is directly in relation to the drop in tech and big ticket items. You are not going to get that kind of service at a Tl 3 backwater but you are also not going to be paying that starport to build you a ship either! Any large trasaction likely to occur there is likely to be attended by bonafide representitives of those involved in the deal. Any deals will be from credit pre-agreed on and established by those representatives, their credentials and the documentation they bring with them.
Just as it has been done ever since we developed a banking system that was not based on you carrying this letter form me to my cousin Samuel in Venice...
So please, understand that there is a lot more to a credit transaction than you putting cash in an account and then writing a check elsewhere and everyone expecting it to work out....
Marc (who is very glad he is out of the financial business...)
