Banks have Unique Characteristics

[Thorengard]

Intent: To create greater settlement variation and allow for wealth destruction.

Top level caveat; for convenience all banks should allow deposit/withdrawal to your picked bank, and random bankers in small settlements become brokers to handle money.

The suggestion is to have each of the banks within Arelith to split apart into actual different banks, with different characteristics dependent on the politics of the settlement - wherein you would have to pick a specific bank that would hold your actual money (including for faction accounts) in its vaults, likely by having to physically move the currency there.

Potential settlement mechanics;
Cordor:
Neutral bank in terms of quality. Minimal costs/fees to open an account, but the bank is owned by the crown/council/etc, allowing for corruption. Becoming an exile or pariah also would result in your account being seized, the guard/the crown/rivorndir/etc might decide they need wartime funds to fight Waterdeep and take 10% off the top of everyone's account, get trumped up charges from one noble house to another to steal all their money, etc etc.

Guldorand:
Assured by Waterdeep, making it safer than Cordor's bank but it's a merchant's bank and expects to make money, so you have to pay a substantial fee to open an account and there are ongoing fees for keeping the account open. Same as with Cordor though, being an exile or pariah causes your bank to be seized.

Brog/Bendir/Myon
Safer than Cordor and cheaper than Guldorand, but you have to be able to be a citizen of the settlement by racial type to be able to use these banks. Same exile/pariah caveat as above, though.

Andunor
Set up in the Hub of Andunor specifically. Cheapest bank, open to anyone that can do business in the underdark. Relatively safe unless some singular faction manages to attain some arbitrary condition, like controlling both the Table and Sharps or something, which gives them full control of the hub bank, hopefully leading to even more chaotic underdark politics.

Sencliff
Swiss bank. Will bank with anyone, will never seize any assets since there is no settlement mechanics in Sencliff. Extraordinarily expensive to buy an account and expensive to keep it open - unless you're inked, then it's a cheap bank like Cordor's.

[The GrumpyCat]

This is an interesting idea, and has potential. I'm definatly going to be pointing Irongron's eyes this way because he's interested in economic stuff, and this I think would give him some ideas, and maybe aligns to some of his ways of thinking.

However.

Becoming an exile or pariah also would result in your account being seized

Absolutly not. This would give PC governments far too much power. It'd make neutral banks (like Sencliff) THE place to bank. It'd quash any sort of conflict roleplay, the stakes being so high. It'd result in far too much anger, bitterness and hatred. It'd also enable a certain amount of muling. No- I dislike this bit intently.

The rest of it however I think has possiblity. I won't move it to 'rejected' or 'accepted' however, until Irongron and others have taken a look, and can properly balence it.