Agency 8: Capital Bank
The eighth agency in the community, and second in the Economic Bureau, is the Capital Bank Agency. The agency is the linchpin of the community’s economic system, investing limited partners’ interest in various aspects of the community’s activities to maximize its social and economic prosperity while maximizing limited partners’ return on investment.
The Capital Bank Agency is served by an executive presidency, consisting of four presidents, representing and serving four divisions: married men (A), married women (B), single women (C), and single men (D). The Economic Bureau also includes the Commercial Bank (agency 7) and the Industrial Bank (agency 9). The presidencies serving the three agencies form a bureau board.
How the bank works
The Capital Bank Agency works through a highly automated system. Through the system, limited partners can view their investment’s status, and carry out transactions such as selling capital or transferring their profit share to other accounts. Villages and agencies can apply for capital, make payments, and monitor their financial relationship with the agency. The executive presidency sets and amends policy and strategy as needed. It also runs and monitors the automated system, and makes adjustments as needed to improve it.
The Capital Bank Agency’s executive presidency does not have any direct, personal interaction with participants. In instances where limited partners have problems using the system, they seek assistance from their captains, or the village presidency serving in the Stewardship Agency (agency 2). Village and agencies’ executive presidencies may interact with the Capital Bank’s executive presidency when they need to offer reviews on how the system can be improved to better respond to users’ needs.
What does the bank do?
Limited partners invest a minimum of $20,000 when they join the community. Limited partners have a title to their investment, and receive a share of profit or loss relative to their investment, and the community’s financial performance. However, they do not participate in decision-making regarding how capital is utilized. On behalf of the community, the Capital Bank is the general partner. It utilizes the capital in the ways discussed below.
Investing capital in agencies
The Capital Bank Agency invests the capital from limited partners in a way that guarantees the highest sustainable return, while supporting other aspects of the community’s objectives, such as social and environmentally sustainable prosperity.
The Capital Bank Agency invests this capital through community agencies. The agencies offer services to participants and charge them for these services. To offer them, however, the agencies need capital to start off and operate. For instance, agencies frequently require contractors to perform some tasks, such as management and maintenance of assets, consultation, and other roles to actually run agencies. Before they can start operations, agencies need to lease space and assets from the relevant agencies. The funds required to do this are obtained from the Capital Bank, which earns a return for its investment.
Agencies and villages frequently need loans from either Commercial or Industrial Bank agencies. [1] The bank agencies require a down payment before they can issue a loan. Agencies use the capital provided by the Capital Bank to put up the down payment. Down payment helps in reducing banks’ exposure to risk. A down payment also enables agencies to participate in owning whatever asset is being developed or acquired.
The Industrial and Commercial Bank Agencies are subject to banking regulations in the areas within which they operate. Regulators might require that for every loan issued by the banks, the borrowers provide a down payment. In modern practice, such a measure helps in promoting financial stability, and responsible lending and borrowing.
Capital plays a particularly important role in the operations of the Commercial and Industrial Bank agencies, and consequently, in the community’s economic performance. The banks cannot advance loans past a certain limit of their assets. Also known as the capital adequacy ratio, the measure ensures banks do not over-stretch their risk. It is usually calculated as capital versus risk-weighted assets (loans issued to customers).
If the ratio is set at 10%, and the bank receives $1,000,000 in capital from the Capital Bank, it cannot make loans past 10,000,000. This, therefore, influences the amount of loans that the banks can make, and by extension, the community’s economic trends. The capital that the banks receive from the Capital Bank Agency is treated as an asset in these circumstances.
The Commercial Bank Agency has additional ways of raising funds to leverage through loans – customer deposits. This avenue is limited by the fact that savings accounts do not exceed $20,000, and deposits in checking accounts are also kept low (more on this in section on growth, sale, and transfer of capital below).
Council of 50
50 communities that are located most proximally to each other form a NewVista. The communities within the NewVista, by virtue of their location and therefore, shared interests, need to coordinate on common areas. These include wilderness areas, hinterlands, transport facilities including inter-community roads and airports, and larger education facilities such as universities, among others.
Coordination on the development and running of these facilities happens under the auspices of the executive presidencies of the Capital Bank Agency. The executive presidencies form a body of 50 presidencies (and since each presidency has 4 presidents, the council has 200 members). The council meets virtually to plan and review common undertakings. The council also comes up with modalities and formulas to determine which communities, and therefore which capital banks, are to pay for various services, as well as ownership of assets.
The inter-community projects that the Capital Bank engages in are yet another investment opportunity for the bank. The bank earns a return for such projects too.
Community storehouse
The Capital, Industrial, and Commercial Bank agencies build and run the community storehouse, which is located alongside the 24 central buildings. The storehouse is a 15-acre complex consisting of a stadium, a mall, storage space, and other facilities.
| Commercial Bank Builds and manages facilities concerned with food/ nutrition and social meeting areas (conference halls etc) | Capital Bank Builds and manages the stadium | Industrial Bank In charge of the mall, and storage facilities |
The. Capital Bank develops the Stadium, which has several recreational and professional sports facilities. The bank also provides the capital with which the Industrial and Commercial bank agencies use to issue themselves with loans to develop their portions of the storehouse.
The storehouse is a vital investment for the bank. Besides the social facilities it provides, it also generates considerable income from space leasing and events held there. While other facilities within the storehouse are likely to be similar throughout a NewVista, the stadiums offer rich variety. The Capital Bank liaises with other Capital Banks within a NewVista, through the Council of 50 in building the stadium. This helps ensure that all needs that require a stadium are accommodated in the NewVista, without an over-saturation or scarcity of important stadium facilities.
The stadium has several different sports facilities. Many of these facilities, such as swimming pools, skating rinks, hockey, and basketball courts, are also available in the district buildings. But the district buildings do not have the capacity to host competitive games and are mainly used for recreation and practice.
The stadium additionally features a pitch that can be used to host soccer, football, and baseball matches, and the capacity to hold many spectators. It is here too, that art expos and music concerts are held. The stadium includes modern features such as air conditioning and a retractable roof to protect competitors and spectators. It also has food and drinks service points where spectators can have light meals and drinks.
The storehouse is mirrored outside the community by a mirrored storehouse of the same size. The mirrored storehouse has grain storage facilities such as silos. The storehouse is also used to store raw materials and other items that cannot be viably stored within the community or in mirrored villages. The mirrored storehouse is managed in the same way as the internal storehouse, through contracts awarded by the banks to limited partners as their stewardship.
Growth, sale and transfer of limited partner interest
The investment into the community is a partnership interest, giving the limited partner the right to share profits and check the performance of their investment, but no authority to intervene in the community’s operations. This is the role of the Capital Bank agency, which as the general partner, is mandated to utilize capital as appropriate to maximize investors’ social and economic return.
Limited partners maintain checking and savings accounts in the Commercial Bank Agency. The bank has limits of how much funds can be kept in either account, to cater for personal and business expenses. Excess funds in their checking accounts are transferred to their savings accounts. When the savings limit is reached, the excess amount is transferred once it hits $20,000 to the Capital Bank Agency. It is added to the limited partner’s partnership interest.
If a limited partner decides to sell their investment (leave the community), the system only allows them to dispose of a maximum of 2% monthly, which is sold back to the Capital Bank Agency. The banks’ limits on withdraws of savings and sale of partnership interest effectively prevent bank runs. They also help enhance the bank’s stability, and by extension, confidence in the community’s economic model which becomes more resilient as a result of these measures.
In case a limited partner intends to transfer from one community to another, they request the new community’s Capital Bank to buy out their investment in the old community.
Executive presidency’s offices and assembly hall seats
Council of 50
50 communities that are located most proximally to each other form a NewVista. The communities within the NewVista, by virtue of their location and therefore, shared interests, need to coordinate on common areas. These include wilderness areas, hinterlands, transport facilities including inter-community roads and airports, and larger education facilities such as universities, among others.
Coordination on the development and running of these facilities happens under the auspices of the executive presidencies of the Capital Bank Agency. The executive presidencies form a body of 50 presidencies (and since each presidency has 4 presidents, the council has 200 members). The council meets virtually to plan and review common undertakings. The council also comes up with modalities and formulas to determine which communities, and therefore which capital banks, are to pay for various services, as well as ownership of assets.
The inter-community projects that the Capital Bank engages in are yet another investment opportunity for the bank. The bank earns a return for such projects too.
Community storehouse
The Capital, Industrial, and Commercial Bank agencies build and run the community storehouse, which is located alongside the 24 central buildings. The storehouse is a 15-acre complex consisting of a stadium, a mall, storage space, and other facilities.
| Commercial Bank Builds and manages facilities concerned with food/ nutrition and social meeting areas (conference halls etc) | Capital Bank Builds and manages the stadium | Industrial Bank In charge of the mall, and storage facilities |
The. Capital Bank develops the Stadium, which has several recreational and professional sports facilities. The bank also provides the capital with which the Industrial and Commercial bank agencies use to issue themselves with loans to develop their portions of the storehouse.
The storehouse is a vital investment for the bank. Besides the social facilities it provides, it also generates considerable income from space leasing and events held there. While other facilities within the storehouse are likely to be similar throughout a NewVista, the stadiums offer rich variety. The Capital Bank liaises with other Capital Banks within a NewVista, through the Council of 50 in building the stadium. This helps ensure that all needs that require a stadium are accommodated in the NewVista, without an over-saturation or scarcity of important stadium facilities.
The stadium has several different sports facilities. Many of these facilities, such as swimming pools, skating rinks, hockey, and basketball courts, are also available in the district buildings. But the district buildings do not have the capacity to host competitive games and are mainly used for recreation and practice.
The stadium additionally features a pitch that can be used to host soccer, football, and baseball matches, and the capacity to hold many spectators. It is here too, that art expos and music concerts are held. The stadium includes modern features such as air conditioning and a retractable roof to protect competitors and spectators. It also has food and drinks service points where spectators can have light meals and drinks.
The storehouse is mirrored outside the community by a mirrored storehouse of the same size. The mirrored storehouse has grain storage facilities such as silos. The storehouse is also used to store raw materials and other items that cannot be viably stored within the community or in mirrored villages. The mirrored storehouse is managed in the same way as the internal storehouse, through contracts awarded by the banks to limited partners as their stewardship.
Growth, sale and transfer of limited partner interest
The investment into the community is a partnership interest, giving the limited partner the right to share profits and check the performance of their investment, but no authority to intervene in the community’s operations. This is the role of the Capital Bank agency, which as the general partner, is mandated to utilize capital as appropriate to maximize investors’ social and economic return.
Limited partners maintain checking and savings accounts in the Commercial Bank Agency. The bank has limits of how much funds can be kept in either account, to cater for personal and business expenses. Excess funds in their checking accounts are transferred to their savings accounts. When the savings limit is reached, the excess amount is transferred once it hits $20,000 to the Capital Bank Agency. It is added to the limited partner’s partnership interest.
If a limited partner decides to sell their investment (leave the community), the system only allows them to dispose of a maximum of 2% monthly, which is sold back to the Capital Bank Agency. The banks’ limits on withdraws of savings and sale of partnership interest effectively prevent bank runs. They also help enhance the bank’s stability, and by extension, confidence in the community’s economic model which becomes more resilient as a result of these measures.
In case a limited partner intends to transfer from one community to another, they request the new community’s Capital Bank to buy out their investment in the old community.
Executive presidency’s offices and assembly hall seats
The executive presidency serving the Capital Bank Agency has offices on the first floor, district building 8, on the western side. The trustee and regulatory agent presidencies that serve the agency have offices across from them as indicated in the graphic below. Married men (8A) president’s office is the first from the southern side, followed by married women (8B), then single women (8C), and finally, single men (8D).
During quarterly assembly meetings, the agency’s executive presidency occupies the seat highlighted. Each division has a separate This graphic illustrates district building 5’s lower hall, which is used by married men (A) presidencies. Building 5’s upper court is used by married women (B). Single women (C) use district building 17’s lower court, while single men (D) use district building 17’s upper court.
- Even though village presidencies take loans, to develop or acquire assets, they do not own these assets; they are owned by the agency that the presidency serves.↩