Forgar's banking houses are chiefly based in central Forgar, clustered close to the Mayering Rooms - principally on Cornliss Avenue, Gold Street and Stolach Avenue. Each of the banks are private companies, loosely controlled by the Mayering Rooms regulators and Dorlafan trade laws. Though supposedly subservient to the Christotan National Bank based in the Mayering Rooms, the private banks - and their counterparts in other provinces - have in fact completely eclipsed it. The banks issue loans, handle private accounts - around a quarter of Cities households hold bank accounts - and commercial ones, with different banks usually specialising in different sectors. The commercial accounts are especially lucrative and the Forgar banks handle most businesses in Dorlaf, not just the Cities. A majority of the landed aristocracy/old money families rely on their own vaults and arrangements, though an increasing number are turning to the professionals. As well as loans, savings accounts, the banks can act as insurance brokers; a small but growing sector in which there are no specialised firms as yet. Forgar's reputation has come under increasing pressure of late from the younger and more dynamic Jalkin institutions, who have been courting patrons with more flexible loans and greater security - from both fluctuating market conditions and the threat of burglars. The recent string of high profile robberies, though relatively irrelevant in terms of money lost, has badly dented the public image of the Forgar banks. They have responded by taking a lead from 'Filo's Fortress' and adding increasingly severe security measures onto their buildings. These rather clash with the original designs, which were meant to be grand, refined and ornate. Control of the banks has long been dominated by Kakranfans, usually second-generation migrants or even longer settled. The causes of the trend, which began about 150 years ago, are uncertain, though its continuation is largely due to nepotism. One consequence of this (following from the general social segregation of Kakranfans) is that banking has come to be seen as a slightly disreputable way of making money. Though invited to the best parties, because anyone with wealth is invited, the likes of Kuka N'Graise and Quelan Etaff aren't seen as integral parts of the social elite.
The Stolach Financial House Founded in 1049 and still one of the Cities' most prestigious banks. It operates exclusively from the grandiose, six-story premises which dominate Stolach Avenue (the road is named after the bank). The foyer and offices are sumptuous enough to put many royal palaces to shame and the front-line staff - who have first to submit to extensive training - are resplendent in the bank's famous scarlet and gold uniforms. The Stolach operates mainly in the commercial sector and the Forgar workshops are its traditional clients. It also enjoys a cosy relationship with the Mayering Rooms, with both personnel and ideas flowing between the two houses. The 1300's have been something of a rocky ride for the Stolach, though, which has seen its clients pinched by various predators and a number of public humiliations. The latter include the 'Friday Heist' of 1312, the most spectacular bank robbery of recent times which saw the Stolach's vaults ransacked in broad daylight, whose controversial aftermath saw the bank's board paid bounty killers to try and kill the perpetrators. A more gentile crisis came in the 1330's when attempts to hike up interest rates were defeated by public outcry and legal injunctions. The interest rates fiasco caused the fall of nearly half the governing board in late 1333; indeed, governorship over the Stolach has been a volatile business, with trustees either quitting or being forced out. The chairwoman of the board, Kuka N'Graise, has just held on in the centre of it, chiefly by managing to deflect the blame onto others. A well-heeled Kakranfan who effectively inherited her position from her father in 1326, N'Graise enjoys a contradictors reputation, a byword for ruthlessness and patrician hauteur yet also a leading light on many charitable bodies.
The Dorlaf Central Bank Founded in 1079, the Dorlaf Central has long been the Stolach's arch rival though has always been in its shadow; literally, as it stands a little further up Stolach Avenue. Never quite as prestigious or wealthy as its competitor, the Dorlaf has only outstripped it in the speed with which it has begun declining. It has at least a geographical broader base of clients, handling a lot of accounts of wealthier farmers and doing sporadic business in towns in Elsey, Notruf and southern Erenland. The latter, though, has caused a lot of trouble with the government as rebellion grows closer and the Dorlaf Central is reluctantly severing ties with the region. Quelan Etaff currently controls the bank, having seized power in a rather messy coup in 1331. A typically dour Kakranfan, he is trying to reverse declining profits by sacking his staff and replacing them with cheap trainees, which is backfiring in all the expected ways.
Vaccio the Banker Increasingly dominant, Vaccio is the one major financial house to buck the trends of Cities-exclusive, Kakranfan controlled bank. It was first set up in Port Crabal in the 800's, though existed for many years as only a small concern operating only in the port. However Vaccio capitalised on Christoté's early boom years, opening branches and winning accounts first across Zabrial and then Dorlaf; unlike the Dorlaf Central it can claim successfully mastered the complexities of cross-provincial business. Originally catering mainly to traders, Vaccio more recently adopted loans etc. amenable to the mass market, particularly the small craftsmen/artisan sector. The Forgar branch was set up in 1207, taking over the grand offices of the Miembiss Bank which had recently gone bankrupt. Though Port Crabal remains the head office, the Forgar site has become increasingly important. Vaccio has had its fair share of controversy over the years, falling foul of anti-monopoly laws, truculent local politicians (a Baron of Dorlaf once unsuccessfully tried to ban it from operating in his province) and public outrage at some of its methods of calling in loans. In the Cities, at least, recent times have been quieter, but it has been accused of funding paramilitary loyalist groups in East Zabrial. (Its offices in the city will be destroyed in the 1335 riots). After the fruits of the expansion came home the Vaccio family became trailblazers in debauchery and infighting, literally at times, and the whole lot were dead, disgraced or insane by the late 1200's. Since then power has rested in fluctuating consortiums and stewardship decided by fairly meritocratic internal promotion. Currently heading the Vaccio board is Kierlan Esko, a recent arrival who was formerly a big light at the Crabal office. He is an able but domineering character with more than one eye on a future political career.
Braedan & Waldiss Located a few doors up from Vaccio's, founded in the early 1100's and traditionally the evil brother of the established banks. It generally caters to (or 'preys on', as some put it) the lower end of the Cities' market, mainly small shops and other businesses; it is also active in most other central Dorlafan towns. It gives large loans fairly easily but always with as huge interest rates as it allowed, and isn't too fussy how it collects. Over its long history there have been innumerable running battles with the authorities and residents associations, prosecutions of its managers and attacks on or by its employees. Braedan and Waldiss has actually been closed down by Forgar Council twice, but always manages to re-open under new ownership. One of its liveliest periods came in the early 1200's, when it was basically a front for the money-laundering operations of the street gangs which were then rife. (This episode lead to its second closure). Braedan and Waldiss' current, Kakranfan, board have been making noises about turning it respectable, but have kept most of its old loan-sharking practices in place.