The syndicate (six richest people in Ul'dah) can usually be thought of as a two-party system. You've got your royalists, who believe that their power and wealth are a means to do right by the Sultanate, and you've got your monetarists, who believe that power and wealth are the goal at any other cost.

Currently, Raubahn is the only remaining royalist in the syndicate. That should give you an idea how bad things are going with that right now, lol.

When the Empire invaded Eorzea, the Monetarists, who had dealings in Garlemald already, simply bribed their way out of the embargo, the rest of Eorzea (including the Immortal Flames) be damned. It wasn't until they realized that Garlemald would see them all dead, anyway, that they came around and invested in the Grand Companies (and even then, finances went only in the Flames).

I'm still waiting to see if the old stories are wrapped up in ARR or if Ferne's just going to lay down the Truth and we'll move on with our lives, but right now I'm thinking the assassin was Warburton.