One method I'm considering runs like this:
Interstellar banking is run as an affiliation of system-wide banks. When a merchant travels from system A to system B it requests its bank in system A to transfer its account to system B. This is done electronically via official mail carried by a different ship (xboats or subies).
Frequently, a merchant will arrive before its account has been transferred over. In such cases a 'lean' is placed against the merchant ship (a short term loan with the merchant ship as collateral). This lean covers docking fees and allows the merchant to buy and sell cargo. Eventually the bank transfer will catch up and the merchant can either fund a deficit from its account or add its profit to its account. In either case departure is not permitted until the lean is settled ... if the cargo run was profitable this could be before the bank account has caught up, otherwise the merchant must wait.
It is also possible for an established merchant using a regular circuit to have bank accounts pre-setup along its route ... and then only have to worry about keeping the funds evenly distributed.
Where this method would have problems is when a merchant mis-jumps and then doesn't make a profit at its new destination. It could find itself stranded financially until the 'roving' bank account can be redirected or the crew can do enough odd jobs to cover the short fall.
Regards PLST
Interstellar banking is run as an affiliation of system-wide banks. When a merchant travels from system A to system B it requests its bank in system A to transfer its account to system B. This is done electronically via official mail carried by a different ship (xboats or subies).
Frequently, a merchant will arrive before its account has been transferred over. In such cases a 'lean' is placed against the merchant ship (a short term loan with the merchant ship as collateral). This lean covers docking fees and allows the merchant to buy and sell cargo. Eventually the bank transfer will catch up and the merchant can either fund a deficit from its account or add its profit to its account. In either case departure is not permitted until the lean is settled ... if the cargo run was profitable this could be before the bank account has caught up, otherwise the merchant must wait.
It is also possible for an established merchant using a regular circuit to have bank accounts pre-setup along its route ... and then only have to worry about keeping the funds evenly distributed.
Where this method would have problems is when a merchant mis-jumps and then doesn't make a profit at its new destination. It could find itself stranded financially until the 'roving' bank account can be redirected or the crew can do enough odd jobs to cover the short fall.
Regards PLST