Nifty secret bank system

[Trei, Peter]

> Sandfort[SMTP:sandfort at mindspring.com] wrote:
> 
> 
> C'punks,
> 
> I ran into a western version of "hawala" about 15 years ago.  It was a
> "blocked currency" service offered by a financial group.  Here's how it
> worked:
> 
This type of thing is old - The Knights Templar set up a system by which 
a pilgrim could deposit money in his home country, and get a letter of
credit
which would enable him or her to draw on that at Templar preceptories 
across Europe and into the Holy Land (12th century). I wouldnt be
suprised if there were Roman or earlier versions as well.

> If you live in a currency-blocked country (South African was one, I think
> it
> still might be) you couldn't legally move more than a certain amount out
> money out of the country.  To get around this, you would be asked to tear
> a
> small denomination piece of paper money (e.g., a 1 rand note) in half.
> You
> would keep one half and the financial group would get the other half.
> Both
> halves of the bill would have the same serial number, of course.
> 
> Later, you would get a call telling you where to take the cash you wished
> to
> move out of the country.  At the appointed time and place an agent of the
> financial group would meet you.  To prove he was the right guy, he would
> present the group's half of the bill.  You would give him the money and
> the
> next day an equivalent amount would be on deposit in an account in your
> name
> in whatever country (and currency) you specified.  The fee for this was
> usually just the normal money changer's exchange rate.  Of course, the
> original cash never left South Africa, just as the cash in the hawala
> system
> never leaves the countries in question either.
> 
The split-bill technique has old roots.

http://www.slais.ubc.ca/news/slaisconference/miller.html

"By the thirteenth century in England, private dealers,
accountants and businessmen were using a royal financial
system of the twelfth century to commit their business
transactions to a physical medium.  Their motivation was
only to monitor and keep track of the multitude of
transactions with clients in order to protect their
self-interest.  Thirteenth-century English businessmen used
tally sticks to record a proof of payment for goods
purchased or to show the liability of one party to make
payments to another.  Tally sticks were made of hazel wood
and the transactions taking place would be recorded and
reflected by notches carved into the tally with a knife.
The names of the parties involved in the transaction were
recorded with ink beside the notches, usually in Hebrew,
Latin or French. Tallies have also been found to have seals
attached to them, which were most likely used to
authenticate the record.  The size and shape of the notches,
and therefore the terms of the transaction, would be
mutually agreed upon by both parties, at which time the
tally would be split down the middle.  The two halves could
then be brought together, like two pieces of a puzzle, to
attest to the actual occurrence of the transaction and to
protect against forgery (10).  The tally stick is a
bipartite record whereby both parties have a portion of the
record to keep for their own interest and for evidence
should they need to prove an obligation or right.

Medieval chirographs are also characterized by their
bipartite nature.  Chirographs recorded agreements and
transactions of many things including the exchanges of goods
and services for financial consideration.  The terms of the
contract are written out twice (once on either side of the
parchment) and one large title is then written across the
top of the parchment spanning both instances of the
contract.  The parchment was then split down the middle, so
each party could retain a record of the contract.  Like the
tally stick, the two pieces of parchment could be brought
together and if the title at the top of the parchment lined
up correctly, the contract was deemed authentic."
----------

[These tallysticks piled up in government archives, and
were kept long after no one could read them (the dead media
problem isn't new, either). In 1834 it was decided to dispose
of them by burning, but the fire got out of control and burned
down the Palace of Westminster]

More recently, in (I think) Philadelphia, people were able to
claim rewards for anonymous tips by sending in a torn sheet
of paper along with the tip. They could later pick up the cash 
from a designated bank by producing the other half, and showing
that the two matched. No ids where required.


> One more aside.  For a brief period when New Zealand was heavily
> socialist,
> the government wanted to stop people from traveling (and spending money)
> abroad.  Instead of banning travel, which would have caused a shit storm
> of
> controversy, thy just limited the amount of cash that could be taken out
> of
> the country to something like a few hundred bucks.  Of course, resourceful
> Kiwis just used their credit cards...
> 
Britain did this in the late 60's, with a 50 pound limit. It was widely
evaded.
Graham Greene features it in 'Travels with my aunt" (which I reccomend
highly).

>  S a n d y