Bank of Hope

A poorly concealed guild of mercenaries and outcasts, that's what it is!

Every bank claims to be different from all others, in some way or another. More modern, more friendly, more reliable. To an observer, they are all the same. One possible exception would be a so-called Bank of Hope. It was among the first banks (claims to be THE first) to give small-size credits to ordinary citizen, and not just the wealthy merchants and elites. As the founder said, "such credits are but a small potential loss for me, yet they give hope to others". While this service is nothing unusual nowadays, and the bank provides normal large-size loans and investments as well, this principle is still prevalent among the bank management. To that end, the Bank of Hope still has one extra option that nobody else offers, a unique type of deposit.   Any customer can visit the bank office and open a "Miracle" account, giving the clerk a set amount of money and a note. The note outlines what the customer is hoping to happen, in very specific and verifiable terms. If the miracle they ask for does in fact happen (say, someone finds your lost item or frees your daughter from the bandits), whoever helped it come true may come to the Bank of Hope and become the new owner of the account. Of course, provided they can preset tangible proof should it be specified in the contract.    

Terms of Agreement

Unsurprisingly, they are many people that tried to cheat the system and claim credit for things they haven't done. Or people that misuse that knowledge. To that end, the bank has several rules that can be specified in the contract for the Miracle deposit:

1. You have to formally "support" that hope in order to claim the account when the thing does happen. That is effectively accepting a contract, although no one will ever speak to you in those terms. If the deposit's note specifies an event and nobody supports the hope before that event happens, the full deposit sum returns to its initial owner.
2. There is also a support contribution (entrance fee), equal to a certain percentage of the deposit's initial amount (no less than 10%, usually 20%). Half of that contribution is added to the account, the other half goes to the bank as fee.
3. The bank clerk will always give you the exact number of people that have supported a specific hope. Their identity however are not public information, and neither is the identity of the person that have first set the account.
4. Not everyone can see the whole list of Miracle accounts. Only the existing customers of the bank have access to it, and the bank staff will recommend the criteria based on the deposit's original value. This generally includes a minimum sum deposited with the bank and/or being the bank's client for a certain period of time, but can cover other terms as well such as having supported a certain number of achieved hopes or even a minimum rate of success.

  In effect, what the bank does here is providing means of anonymously hiring people for a job. Any job. This is not technically a job, after all. This safety and bank's meticulous rules attract both elites and criminals alike. And since many of the really interesting, high-value "hopes" are hidden behind high entry requirements, there exists an unofficial institute of "Kind Patrons". They are essentially middlemen, who have personal agreements with the bank and a right to "guide kind-natured souls towards people in need". What that means is a right to introduce people to specific "Miracle" accounts that would normally be inaccessible to them.   The terms seem to be highly individual and vary between different Kind Patrons. The agreement usually has the Kind Patron covering a part of the initial support amount, especially for high-value accounts. In return, they receive a share of any deposit successfully awarded to someone they have referred - ranging from 10% for simple referral to as high as 70% in some cases.