What is the use of the bank?

At every inn, there's a bank where you can throw in gold, in chunks of 1000, to get later.

That gold seems to just sit there and do nothing. There's no interest (where you would put in 1000, pull back 1050 later), there's no mechanic where you would lose money, for instance on death.

So it does feel like putting money in the bank has basically no use. So why is it there?

1 Answer

If you die and choose to return to the last point you saved at or last place visited (but not last autosave), it doesn't reload your last save; rather, you keep any progress intact, except you lose half your money. Money in the bank is exempt from this.

This has, I believe, been the purpose of banks since the very first Dragon Quest, and even some other games such as Pokémon Mystery Dungeon.