Herald of Steel

Chapter 1446: Bank of Gaia

Alexander thought about the challenges of implementing the two banking systems for a while, naturally finding the traditional type far easier.

He just needed to give anyone asking for the money and then sit and wait for the repayments. How the man gathered the money was his headache.

The interest free system however needed a lot more oversight.

First of all, it required a far more selective vetting of the debtors, as here Alexander was not lending, but investing. He risked losing all his money, hence naturally the borrower needed a far better ’credit score’.

Then, once the loan was given, it required further accounting oversight to make sure the business was reporting proper revenue number.

Otherwise, it would be all too easy for a business to make enormous profits but cook the books to make it look like they were barely breaking even.

This was a trick as old as the ages... to dodge paying business taxes. And Alexander certainly did not want to end up as one of the swindled.

Lastly there was the hassle of properly distributing the earnings among the depositors at the end of the year.

With a fixed interest rate, it was simply multiplying the percentage with his savings.

But with the interest less model, the profits had to be divided up among the investors in proportion to the deposits, and sometimes even according to the accounts used to generate that percentage of the profit.

Alexander certainly did not have the educated manpower to set up such complex structures even if he wanted to.

So for now Alexander decided to only offer the traditional interest based loans, with plans to offer the much more complicated alternative at a later date.

Even when he did, Alexander wished to simplify the process a lot, such as making the borrower’s books much more transparent, lending money to only business with a stable cash flow, and skipping giving personal loans in that manner.

For now though, Alexander kept his decision to himself, and so turning to the slightly unhappy Lady Parthia announced,

"Indeed... just as Your Highness said, it is hard to think of a way to make loans work without interest. Let me pray to the goddess and ask for her guidance. Hopefully, she will answer soon. For now... let us do with what we have."

Lady Parthia’s expression did not change much at this, figuring Alexander was just saying this to placate her.

So she simply gave a curt nod and once again promised to do her best supporting him.

Thus reassured, Alexander then turned to Lady Nanazin, and with a simple smile, proposed,

"Your Highness, I recall that you have some experience in managing books. So I want to be in charge of this new ’lending house’. It is named the ’Bank of Goddess Gaia.’ and I have already set you up with all the necessary staff."

"....!!!.." The announcement appeared like a bolt out of the blue for the Adhanian queen, her eyes bulging out with surprise and more than that excitement!

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When Alexander had called her, she certainly did not expect to be given such a huge boon. She only figured Alexander was summoning her for her advice.

Unless they wanted a fight, nobles would only move after getting solid evidence of the store breaking the law and getting permission from the local clergy.

Hence Alexander’s taking interest money in the name of a god would make the noble far more cautious of speaking out.... even if just outwardly.

Even better, if Lady Parthia were to speak up for Alexander then, fewer nobles would dare call her out as a traitor or sell out because technically she was a priestess of Gaia.

It was only natural for her to defend her faith and some might say even an obligation.

The clever queen could already see a script forming inside her head, where she saw herself claiming that the collection of the interest was sanctioned by the gods and it only applied to the believers of the faith.

As for how true that was...

Well were the nobles going to stand in front of the bank and ask each and every one coming out of it what their chosen faith?

Of course, such a ridiculous thing would never happen.

And even if the nobles were to accuse her of trickery after all this, charging her with fraud, Lady Parthia could easily hide her tracks by just asking Alexander to make everyone taking the loan sign a paper saying they were believers of the Mother.

As for verifying the faith....

"It is not up to us to determine whether the man is truly a believer or not. He has sworn he believes in the Mother in Her home and it is up to Her to judge him. There is no compulsion in faith."

Lady Parthia had been in charge of statecraft long enough to know how to twist words and turn events to suit her needs.

Now, whether the borrowers would themselves be willing to make such a ’dangerous’ promise, well...according to her personal experience, Lady Parthia did not doubt 99 out of a hundred 100 would sign in a heartbeat.

Because merchants were among the least religious groups in society.

They were perhaps even more agnostic than the nobles, who at least nominally venerated the gods or ancestors or the heavens in gratitude for their privileged position.

But merchants... most worshipped their one true lord- gold.

And things would indeed turn out just like Lady Parthia guessed, especially after Alexander added a tiny disclaimer that absolved the contractee of any such religious pledge once the loan was paid back.

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