Linden Lab is finally banishing bogus banks from Second Life. It's amazing it took so long, particularly after the Ginko Financial collapse and other signs of financial irregularities, but the lawyers and business executives behind the virtual world finally realized that a laissez-faire attitude toward economics and regulation can only go so far:
Usually, we don't step in the middle of Resident-to-Resident conduct letting Residents decide how to act, live, or play in Second Life.But these "banks" have brought unique and substantial risks to Second Life, and we feel it's our duty to step in. Offering unsustainably high interest rates, they are in most cases doomed to collapse leaving upset "depositors" with nothing to show for their investments. As these activities grow, they become more likely to lead to destabilization of the virtual economy. At least as important, the legal and regulatory framework of these non-chartered, unregistered banks is unclear, i.e., what their duties are when they offer "interest" or "investments."
There is no workable alternative. The so-called banks are not operated, overseen or insured by Linden Lab, nor can we predict which will fail or when. And Linden Lab isn't, and can't start acting as, a banking regulator.
More analysis can be seen on Terra Nova, and there's a discussion on Slashdot as well.