The E-me chip and banking

Hi All, 

Banking and Finance was somewhat different in the 22nd century. Thanks to the e-me chip, a chip inserted into the brain, it is the equivalent of having all of your aps, mobile phone and social media rolled into one. This includes having your own e-vault, wherein your salary is paid directly to you, thus bypassing banks, but like a mobile phone network you have to pay fees dependent on how much data you are using. 

Banks do still exist, but they are in competition with a multitude of finance and credit companies who reply not on depositors but on the multitude of investment and 'go fund moi' funds. The banks no longer offer current or checking accounts, but focus on 'savings and loans', unless you are a very wealthy individual and can afford to open an account with a private bank.  The Merchant and Investment Banks are still around, but they were always different to  the banks the general public used in the 20th and early 21st century. There are also the mega composite banks, who have a finger in every pie. 

To support the mortgage market there is the Federal Property Investment and Development of Real Estate Assets Company, called in shorthand The Derech (Hebrew for 'path') who sell bonds to investors and use this cash to buy up Mortgages from the market, which enhances liquidity and also transfers credit risk. Whilst Derech was a Quango, it is now a privately listed company, although many alien investors perceive it to be guaranteed by the Earth Fed government , in the same way they believe the Church of England's Investment Company, the Church Commissioners, are fully back-stopped by the British government.

All of this is regulated by multiple different agencies, but not by The Bank of Earth, the Central Bank of the Federation, whose main job is to act as a banker to the government and as a secondary, a banker to the banks, who whether they are the the Kingsman Reef Building Society or the colossal Mega Bank JP House & Co have accounts at the Bank of Earth. It is mandated to have responsibility for overall 'financial stability', 'full employment' and 'low inflation' and unlike other central banks is able to lend directly to the government (not as unusual as one might think: the 'role model' Bank of England was founded to finance England's wars against France and later on  France's Banque De France was created by Napoleon for money against England).  The Bank  is not allowed, however, to undertake bailouts. It is a lender of last resort, but it is only permitted to prop up a bank in this way if it is deemed to be solvent and has enough good assets to lend against. More often than not, banks are taken over by the Federal Insurance Quango,  then sold off or put into administration , with depositors getting a maximum of £25 million back. 

The Bank is overseen by a Chairman (usually a 'grandee ' or 'elder statesman'  from the ruling party) , but is run by the Supreme Governor and his Officers, with the board of directors called 'Regents'.  The Officers of the Bank tend to be permanent non political appointments, whereas the Supreme Governor has a 7 year term. When there is a vacancy, depending who is in government, the left prefer academics and economists, whereas the right prefers an actual banker or businessman.