Hi! I’m kind of new to ASOIAF world and I was curious of the history behind the Iron Bank. How was it created? Who runs it? How it works in simple terms. I’m sorry if you answered this already, but thank you for answering if you do!

The Iron Bank was created in the early days of Braavos by a group of twenty-three artisans and merchants who pooled their funds together into a single reserve, which they stored in an old iron mine with only one entrance, which they had guarded by men who were paid partly by all of them in order to ensure they were loyal to the group. 

Today, the Iron Bank is governed by two bodies of people. the 1000+ keyholders who are the descendants of the original 23, and the bank’s shareholders, who rank among some of the wealthiest families in Braavos. The two groups together elect the Bank’s executive leadership and make up its councils. (Incidentally, they also elect the Sealord of Braavos, so the lines between Bank and State are blurry indeed)

In terms of how it works, it’s a bank: it lends money to people and it accepts deposits, and it makes sure that the interest rates it charges for the former are larger than the rates it pays to the latter. It’s primarily a commercial bank, although it also does a bit of retail banking to shopkeepers and artisans as well as merchants and banks and princes. We don’t know whether it is also a merchant or investment bank, but it wouldn’t surprise me. 

As the largest financial institution in the world in terms of reserves, the Iron Bank acts as the banker of last resort for the other banks of Essos (a status it guards jealously – just ask the Rogarres) and to the various governments of Planetos. And unlike most banks, which historically were ruined when sovereigns defaulted on their debt, the Iron Throne has the capital and the nerve to finance coups, revolutions, usurpations, and assassinations to ensure that its repayment rates remain pristine.