Who Will Be the Bankers After SHTF?

I read an interesting forum discussion recently that asked a question I hadn’t considered much: who will the bankers be in a post-SHTF society? The original poster wondered if banking would even exist after a collapse, and if so, who would fill that role. It’s a thought-provoking question that gets at something important about how society might rebuild after a major disaster.

The discussion itself wandered through various ideas, at least, from what I read. Some suggested banks would simply cease to exist. Others thought precious metals dealers or people with safes might become the new bankers. A few mentioned that whoever controls food and water would hold the real power. All valid points, but I think the question deserves a closer look at what “banking” actually means in a post-collapse world.

What Does Banking Even Mean After Collapse?

When we talk about banks today, we’re talking about institutions that store money, facilitate transactions, provide loans, and maintain complex digital records. (Not to mention inflate currency, thus destroying your future…but let’s not dwell on the downsides.) None of that works when the grid is down, the dollar has collapsed, or society has fractured into local communities struggling to survive.

But the core functions of banking (storing value, facilitating trade between people, and providing credit) are actually ancient concepts. People were doing these things thousands of years before modern banks existed, and they’re going to want to continue doing so. The question is what form these services will take and who will provide them.

In the immediate aftermath of a disaster, banking in any traditional sense won’t exist. People will be focused on survival concepts, like having enough to eat and not freezing to death in the winter. But as communities stabilize (assuming they do), some form of trade will emerge because it has to. Nobody is completely self-sufficient, not even me. And as much as it pains me to admit, I’ll be forced to seek supplies or skills eventually.

You Need Something Worth Banking First

Here’s what struck me about the forum discussion: several people jumped straight to talking about who would be bankers without addressing the more fundamental question: What exactly would these bankers be “banking” with?

As I’ve written before, the romanticized vision of post-SHTF bartering doesn’t match reality. You can’t effectively barter unless you have something others want and need, and that’s to say nothing of the very real security concerns of doing so. But before we can talk about who might be the bankers, we need to talk about what holds value.

Precious metals are the obvious answer from a prepping perspective, and they probably will play a role in any rebuilt economy. After all, gold and silver have held value across cultures for millennia. But in the immediate aftermath of collapse, can you eat gold? Will someone trade you food for silver when they’re hungry also? Maybe if they think there’s a better deal to be had elsewhere in that trade. But probably not because people mostly think about their situation right now, and if they’re hungry right now, long-term thinking goes out the window.

With that in mind, more practical stores of value in the short term include antibiotics, seeds, ammunition, tools, and even skills. These are things people actually need to survive and rebuild right now. A person with a stockpile of antibiotics or quality garden seeds has real wealth in a post-collapse world. Someone who knows how to repair engines or set broken bones has valuable capital in the form of knowledge and skills.

I’ve discussed high-yield barter items elsewhere, and I firmly believe that many of these same items would serve as the foundation for any post-collapse “banking” system. The difference is that banking implies some level of storage, record keeping, and possibly lending, not just direct trade. So, this makes the concept of “banking” a bit more complicated.

Regardless, the reality is that post-collapse banking would likely be based on a mix of precious metals (for long-term value storage), essential commodities (for practical transactions), and trust-based credit systems within communities…all three of which have historical precedent.

Setting Up Local Banking After Collapse

One commenter in the forum thread mentioned something important: the need for community organization, and they’re right. Whatever banking or trade system emerges won’t just happen spontaneously. It will require people to step up and create structure.

But here’s a key point: You don’t set this up now. You set it up quickly after a collapse, when the immediate survival phase has passed but before chaos becomes the new normal.

Why wait? Because organizing a barter network or banking system before SHTF makes you a target. It advertises that you have resources and that you’re thinking about post-collapse scenarios. Remember that operational security (OPSEC) matters. But once a disaster strikes and communities begin stabilizing, moving fast to establish trade networks, even if extremely localized, becomes critical. And honestly, such talk will likely fall on deaf ears since most people won’t care BEFORE something happens.

Anyway, the first communities to establish functional trade systems will have massive advantages because they’ll be able to pool resources more efficiently, specialize labor, and rebuild faster (or at least avoid utter chaos for longer). The communities that don’t organize will struggle with inefficient direct bartering or worse, might resort to violence to acquire what they need.

Setting up a post-collapse banking or barter system means identifying trustworthy people quickly, establishing basic rules for trade and credit, determining what serves as currency or value stores, and creating simple record-keeping systems. It means being proactive in those first weeks or months when society is still fluid and new systems can take root. My guess is that a lot of the legwork could be done beforehand simply by getting to know your neighbors.

Obviously, someone will fill this role in every community that survives. The question is whether it will be people with good intentions trying to facilitate fair trade, or opportunists looking to exploit desperate neighbors. My guess is that you want it to be fair, so maybe you should be that person?

The Risks of Being Known

But there is a clear problem because being “the banker” post-collapse comes with serious risks.

Clearly, if you’re known as someone who keeps records of who owes what and likely has stockpiles of tradeable goods, you become a massive target. And it’s not just for desperate individuals, but potentially for organized groups looking to seize what they can. Therefore, your security concerns multiply exponentially compared to someone who keeps a low profile, which is my preference.

I’ve written about the decision between stockpiling supplies versus holding hard assets, and this same tension exists with post-collapse banking. The more you have, the more you’re at risk. The more people know you have resources, the bigger the target on your back. Worse, the more you focus on holding hard assets with the intention or expectation of trading for supplies, the more risk you incur because you (1) are seen as a wealthy target and (2) are forced to find people to trade with for supplies. That’s just asking for trouble.

Moreover, some people in that forum thread suggested that bankers would need significant security and defenses, and they’re absolutely right. Historical precedent shows that people who stored wealth with the intention of facilitating trade always needed protection. This was true in medieval Europe, ancient Rome, and everywhere else. It will be true after collapse too.

The problem is that there are more people than ever these days who are ill-prepared for any sort of societal collapse; these people will desperate, likely well-armed, and looking to take whatever they can from whoever they can.

All the doom and gloom aside, there are benefits to participating in organized trade and banking. For instance, you’ll surely gain access to a wider range of goods and services. You can leverage stored value (i.e., precious metals) or credit (not sure how this will work out) when you need something you don’t have. You become part of a network that provides mutual support and protection. And you help your community rebuild faster, which benefits everyone including you and your family.

Surely the calculation is highly personal. Some people will decide the risks outweigh the benefits and will remain on the periphery, only trading occasionally and directly. (That’s me!) Others will see opportunity and be willing to accept higher risk for higher reward. Both approaches are valid depending on your situation, resources, and risk tolerance.

What This Means for Preppers

So what should we take away from all this?

First, understand that some form of trade and banking will emerge after any collapse that doesn’t completely destroy civilization, like a massive meteor strike. You should be thinking about how you fit into that picture.

Second, build a stockpile of genuinely valuable items now. When SHTF hits, knowing where to get last-minute supplies may be helpful, but having resources already stored gives you infinitely more options and less risk. Focus on items with practical value (food, medicine, seeds, tools, ammunition) alongside traditional stores of value like precious metals. (I’ve written about this extensively in my survival books if you’re interested in my take.)

Third, develop useful skills. I can’t overstate this! In a post-collapse economy, people who can do things others need will always have value to trade. While supplies and precious metal stocks dwindle, knowledge does not. Medical knowledge, mechanical skills, farming expertise, and construction/repair abilities may be worth more than gold in many situations. If nothing else, stock up on “how to” books and survival encyclopedias.

Fourth, pay attention to your community now. Not to organize barter networks (remember, OPSEC matters), but to understand who your neighbors are and who might be trustworthy after a collapse because relationships built before disaster strikes become the foundation for cooperation afterward.

Finally, think through your personal risk tolerance. Would you be willing to take on a banking or trade facilitation role if it meant higher risk but greater access to resources and community influence? Or would you prefer to keep a lower profile and trade minimally? Neither answer is wrong, but you should know where you stand before you’re forced to decide in the chaos of actual collapse.

Ultimately, the bankers of a post-SHTF world will be whoever steps up to fill that role and survives long enough to establish legitimacy. Maybe that’s you. Maybe it’s someone else in your community. Let’s just hope they have good intentions, though many warlords came and went and most didn’t have “good intentions.” Are you prepared to suffer the consequences if they don’t?