[sangnoir]

> The password is what secures the more valuable things inside the account (the money)

> I think the bigger consideration is actually how to exfiltrate money from an account that you compromise: If you initiate a wire transfer to some account you control, that leaves a paper trail, and typically has a lag time, during which the institution/customer have a chance to react.

It sounds like your third paragraph contradicts your first - it's not just your password that protects the money, but the institution whose business it is to maintain and reconcile paper trails.

Banks were using signatures(!) to protect depositors' money long before passwords existed - and they have had processes to mitigate fraud since then. While not ideal, plain text passwords are huge upgrade over signatures