Iron Bank of Braavos

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"Anyway, it's not my father I'm worried about. It's the Iron Bank of Braavos. We owe them tens of millions. If we fail to pay these millions, the Bank will fund our enemies. One way or another, they always get their gold."

―Tyrion Lannister

The Iron Bank of Braavos is a bank in the Free City of Braavos. It is a powerful financial institution of the Known World, with clients across Essos and Westeros, including the government of the King of the Andals and the First Men who rules over the Seven Kingdoms.

History

Background

Braavos was founded four centuries before the Doom of Valyria by escaped slaves fleeing from the Valyrian Freehold. When the Doom destroyed Valyria, one century before the Targaryen Conquest of the Seven Kingdoms (three centuries before the War of the Five Kings), it remained hidden and removed from the chaotic civil wars which Valyria's former colonies fell into, which became known as the Century of Blood. Braavos only intervened at the very end of these conflicts in the final push to stop Volantis from conquering all of the city-states. When the dust settled, the former Valyrian colonies re-formed into the independent Free Cities.

Braavos, however, while considered one of the "Free Cities", had never been a Valyrian colony like the other eight city-states. Therefore, it had never been dependent on the interconnected political and economic network of the old Valyrian Freehold, and thus became an island of economic stability while the trade and food supply networks of the other Free Cities collapsed during the constant destruction of the Century of Blood. The other Free Cities thus began to rely on the stability of banks in Braavos, leading the to Iron Bank of Braavos becoming the largest bank in the world, bigger than those of the other eight Free Cities put together.

Season 1

Eddard Stark is shocked to learn that the crown is six million Gold Dragons in debt, of which three million are owed to House Lannister (though the Iron Bank of Braavos is not directly named as one of the other creditors).

Season 3

After taking over the role of Master of Coin from Petyr Baelish, Tyrion Lannister discovers that Baelish has been funding the Iron Throne's budget by borrowing massive amounts of money from the Iron Bank of Braavos, and the crown now owes the bank millions of Gold Dragons. Tyrion is concerned, because the Iron Bank has a tradition of funding the enemies of rulers who fail to repay their debts.

In the books

In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, the Iron Bank of Braavos is the most powerful banking institution in the known world, richer and more powerful than all others banks combined and with fearsome reputation when collecting debts. When princes or kings default on their debts or are foolish enough not to honor their agreements with the Iron Bank, new princes and kings appear with the Iron Bank's support. These new princes and kings then honor the previous debt along with paying back the money the bank loaned them in claiming their new power, lest they suffer the same fate as their predecessors. "The Iron Bank will have its due" is a common saying among Braavosi.

See also

• Iron Bank of Braavos at A Wiki of Ice and Fire (MAJOR spoilers from the books)