Manycoins services

Manycoins services were a type of banking service found across the Realms. Individuals who offered manycoins services were referred to as moneylenders.

Background
A few individuals in certain places provided manycoins services to wealthy people. Those services included moneylending, currency exchange, and "keepsafe". Temples offered those services to members of their faith, but at such absurd rates that they were ruinous for commoners or small lenders. Some guilds provided them to their members, while some caravan costers provided them to people located in the cities in which they were based. Independent moneylenders offered manycoin services to everyone who could pay their rates.

Independent moneylenders, such as wealthy merchants or retired adventurers with a lot of coin to invest, were preferred by nobles and wealthy individuals because they asked no questions or didn't report to the authorities when and how much anyone "proffered" (deposited) or "redeemed" (withdrew) to/from their accounts, or if someone proffered something stolen or sought after by the government or anyone else. This was done as a tradition, as independent moneylenders knew that they needed the trust of their clients to stay in business.

While moneylenders tended to be individuals, a few moneylenders formed partnerships. This was common in cities like Waterdeep. Partnerships usually used the names of their members as the names for their business, for example, Anasader & Thelmuth. In addition to these partnerships, a handful of individuals were moneylenders to the nobility.

Because moneylenders usually profited with the wealth of others without paying them in return, and also because moneylenders got paid hefty interests from loans, those who wanted to invest their money for their own profit did it themselves or hired factors, instead of giving their money to moneylenders.

Establishments
Manycoins edifices were made of imposing polished stone, with impressive ornate metal furnishings and trim. Everything was crafted to be fireproof, so as to prevent thieves from starting a fire to steal the coins stored in a manycoins building. In common cities, every patron that went to their own "strongdark" rooms were always accompanied by servants and uniformed guards hired by the moneylender. In Waterdeep this was different. Patrons were always conducted alone through nigh-silent, lofty passages and rooms of polished marble, golden doors, and the like.

Dealing with "upper-crust" moneylenders (moneylenders that dealt with nobility or really wealthy individuals) was done in private rooms known as "strongdarks". The word was derived from "a darkened strong room", as those rooms usually had many stub walls concealed by black curtains that the occupants could use to hide behind if attacked. There were generally three or four of these rooms clustered around a central strongdark, in which the moneylender was located, always behind a chased and worked slotted metal barrier.

Moneylending
Most moneylenders were known as "smallcoins", as they only dealt with common folk, such as laborers. Smallcoins had a reputation for being misers.

"Rollcoins" were moneylenders that dealt with shop-owners and merchants, and had enough money to invest in high-risk investments (such as building establishments and such). Only the genuinely ruined dealt with rollcoins, however, because doing so usually mean the loaners were almost ruined. Rollcoins always demanded collateral, non-portable payment, such as real estate, so they never lost their investments even if their clients never paid them their loans. Despite this, rollcoins were always treated with respect, even by clients who hated them, because they always had enough money to help people or cities in dire moments.

Keepsafe
The keepsafe was a service that provided a safe storage for money, contracts and other valuable documents, and small portable valuables such as expensive jewelry, for a fee. Money stored by moneylenders was invested by them to make themselves more funds without paying their clients any interest.

A particular form of keepsafe was the "silent safehold", a stash for large amounts of wealth the owner wanted safe and far from where governments could tax it. Moneylenders offered such services for a modest annual handling fee.

Patrons wanting to access their funds needed to say their code name to the moneylender. Code names were a word or phrase that represented the account. It was unrelated to the owner's name, family's names, or heraldry. After informing if they wanted the moneylender to "in" (proffer), "out" (redeem), or "both", they had to paint a symbol in a tray of smooth sand. Whereupon the moneylender pulled the tray back, examined the symbol (usually checking it against a coded ledger), and then drew a knife across the sand to smooth the tray "blank" again.

If the symbol and code name matched the information originally given to the moneylender by the patron, the moneylender then offered the first part of a pass phrase, usually a question, with the patron finishing the phrase. If the phrase was correct, then the moneylender proceeded with the transaction.

If something was wrong (like the symbol or the pass phrase), the moneylender refused to proceed with the operation. Such refusals were accompanied by the use of unpleasant gas or a spray of onion juice in the eyes of the presumed patrons, as well as the summoning of guards and guard pets to deal with them.

Notable Moneylenders

 * Istrid Horn
 * Mirt, a rather infamous moneylender.
 * The Ulkroun family of Waterdeep.
 * Victoro Cassalanter

Trivia
In the in-universe Realms, the words for and the concept of banking and banks don't exist. "Manycoins" is the approximate term and concept for such things.