I went through the patch notes but couldn't find specifically when Cove had a bank added, but I'd be very surprised to hear it was earlier than Age of Shadows. I did find this blog post where the author mentions this:
If that's not official enough, there's this UO.com update dated Feb 8 2002 (Third Dawn/LBR-era) which specifically mentions the following:# Cove was less popular, as it didn't have a bank. Some travellers went there, nevertheless. Mostly to explore the little village, resting before continuing to follow the road from Vesper to Yew, or to fight some orc at the Cove Orc Fort.
It may be that this is an intentional change for UOSA, but if not I propose that the Cove bank be removed, or if this is not possible for map reasons then at least the banker NPCs and bank box access. I'd obviously be interested to hear feedback about this idea from other players.* New players in the directed experience will be given an "enchanted sextant”, which will give the cardinal direction to the nearest moongate, as well as the cardinal direction to the nearest city bank (except in the case of Cove, which has no bank - in this case the player is pointed to the city gates).