Thehistory of banking began with the first prototypebanks, that is, the merchants of the world, who gave grainloans to farmers and traders who carried goods between cities. This was around 2000 BCE inAssyria, India andSumer. Later, inancient Greece and during theRoman Empire, lenders based in temples gave loans, while acceptingdeposits and performing thechange of money. Archaeological findings from this period inancient China andIndia also include evidence ofmoney lending.

Many scholars trace the historical roots of the modernbanking system to medieval and RenaissanceItaly, particularly the affluent cities ofFlorence,Venice andGenoa. TheBardi andPeruzzi families dominated banking in 14th century Florence, establishing branches in many other parts ofEurope.^[1] The most famous Italian bank was theMedici Bank, established byGiovanni Medici in 1397.^[2] Theoldest bank still in existence isBanca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, headquartered inSiena, Italy, which has been operating continuously since 1472.^[3] Until the end of 2002, the oldest bank still in operation was theBanco di Napoli headquartered inNaples, Italy, which had been operating since 1463.

Development of banking spread from northern Italy throughout theHoly Roman Empire, and in the 15th and 16th century to northern Europe. This was followed by a number of important innovations that took place inAmsterdam during theDutch Republic in the 17th century, and in London since the 18th century. During the 20th century, developments in telecommunications and computing caused major changes to banks' operations and let banks dramatically increase in size and geographic spread. The2008 financial crisis led to manybank failures, including some of the world's largest banks, and provoked much debate aboutbank regulation.

The shift from a reliance onhunting and gathering of foods toagricultural practices, starting sometime after 12,000 BCE, resulted in increased stability of economic relations. Such changes in socio-economic conditions began approximately 10,000 years ago in theFertile Crescent, about 9,500 years ago in northern China, about 5,500 years ago in Mexico, and approximately 4,500 years ago in the eastern parts of the United States.^[4][5][6]

Ancient types of money known as grain-money and food cattle-money were used from around 9000 BCE as two of the earliest commodities used for purposes ofbartering.

Anatolianobsidian as a raw material forStone Age tools was being distributed from as early as about 12,500 BCE, andorganized trading of it was occurring during the 9th millennium BCE.^[7]Sardinia was one of the four main sites for sourcing the material deposits of obsidian within the Mediterranean; trade using obsidian was replaced during the 3rd millennium BCE by trade ofcopper andsilver.

Objects used for record keeping, "bulla" andtokens, have been recovered from withinNear East excavations, dated to a period beginning 8000 BCE and ending 1500 BCE, as records of thecounting of agricultural produce. Commencing in the late fourth millenniamnemonic symbols were in use by members of temples and palaces to record stocks of produce. Types of records accounting for trade exchanges of payments were first being made about 3200 BCE. TheCode of Hammurabi, written on a clay tablet around 1700 BCE, describes the regulation of banking activity within the civilization (Armstrong); although still rudimentary, banking was well enough developed to justify laws governing banking operations.^{[nb 1]} Later during theAchaemenid Empire (after 646 BCE),^[8] further evidence is found of banking practices in the Mesopotamia region.^{[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][excessive citations]}

By the 5th millennium BCE, the settlements ofSumer, such asEridu, were formed around a central temple. In the fifth millennium, people began to build and live in the civilization of cities, providing a structure for the construction of institutions and establishments.Tell Brak andUruk were two earlyurban settlements.^{[12][17][18][19][20]}

Banking as an archaic activity (or quasi-banking^[21][22]) is thought to have begun as early as the latter part of the 4th millennium BCE,^[23] to the 3rd millennia BCE.^[24][25]

Prior to the reign ofSargon I of Akkad (2335–2280 BCE^[26]) the occurrence of trade was limited to the internal boundaries of each city-state ofBabylon and the temple located at the centre of economic activity therein; trade at the time for citizens external to the city was forbidden.^[17][27][28]

InBabylonia of 2000 BCE, people depositing gold were required to pay amounts as much as one sixtieth of the total deposited. Both the palaces and temple are known to have provided lending and issuing from the wealth they held—the palaces to a lesser extent. Such loans typically involved issuing seed-grain, with re-payment from the harvest. These basic social agreements were documented in clay tablets, with an agreement on interestaccrual. The habit of depositing and storing of wealth in temples continued at least until 209 BCE, as evidenced byAntiochus III having ransacked or pillaged the temple of Aine inEcbatana (Media) of gold and silver.^{[29][30][31][32][33][34][35][excessive citations]}

More information comes fromthe code commissioned byHammurabi, king of Babylonc. 1792–1750 BCE. Law 100 stipulated thatrepayment of aloan by adebtor to acreditor was to be on aschedule with amaturity date specified inwrittencontractual terms.^[36][37][38] Law 122 stipulated that adepositor ofgold,silver, or otherproperty must present all articles and a signedcontract ofbailment to anotary before depositing the articles with a banker, and Law 123 stipulated that a banker was discharged of anyliability from a contract of bailment if the notary denied the existence of the contract. Law 124 stipulated that a depositor with anotarized contract of bailment was entitled toredeem the entirety of their deposit, and Law 125 stipulated that a banker wasliable for replacement of depositsstolen while in theirpossession.^[39][40][38]

Cuneiform records of thehouse of Egibi of Babylonia describe the family's financial activities as having occurred sometime after 1000 BCE and ending sometime during the reign ofDarius I. These records suggest a "lending house" (Silver 2002), a family engaging in "professional banking..." (Dandamaevet al. 2004), and economic activities similar to modern deposit banking. Another interpretation is that the family's activities are better described as entrepreneurship rather than banking (Wunsch 2007). TheMurashu family apparently took part in providingcredit (Moshenskyi 2008).^{[41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][excessive citations]}

From the fourth millennium previously agricultural settlements began administrative activities.^{[51][52][53][54]}

Thetemple of Artemis atEphesus was the largest depository of Asia. A pot hoard dated to 600 BCE was found in excavations by The British Museum during 1904. During the time of the cessation of the first Mithridatic war, the entire debt being held at the time was annulled by the council.Mark Antony is recorded to have stolen from the deposits on occasion. The temple served as a depository for Aristotle, Caesar, Dio Chrysostomus, Plautus, Plutarch, Strabo and Xenophon.^{[55][56][57][58][59][60][61]}

The temple to Apollo in Didyma was constructed sometime in the 6th century. A large sum of gold was deposited within the treasury at the time by kingCroesus.^[62][63]

In ancient India there are evidences of loans from theVedic period (beginning 1750 BCE). Later during theMaurya dynasty (321–185 BCE), an instrument called adesha was in use, which was an order on a banker desiring him to pay the money of the note to a third person, which corresponds to the definition of a bill of exchange as we understand it today. During the Buddhist period, there was considerable use of these instruments. Merchants in large towns gave letters of credit to one another.^[64][65][66]

In ancient China, starting in theQin dynasty (221–206 BCE),Chinese currency developed with the introduction of standardized coins that allowed easier trade across China, and led to development of letters of credit. These letters were issued by merchants who acted in ways that today we would understand as banks.^[67]

Some scholars suggest that the Egyptian grain-banking system became so well-developed that it was comparable to major modern banks, both in terms of its number of branches and employees, and in terms of the total volume of transactions. During the rule of the Greek Ptolemies, the granaries were transformed into a network of banks centered in Alexandria, where the main accounts from all of the Egyptian regional grain-banks were recorded. This became the site of one of the earliest known government central banks, and may have reached its peak with the assistance of Greek bankers.^{[citation needed]}

According to Muir (2009) there were two types of banks operating within Egypt: royal and private.^[68] Documents made to show the banking of taxes were known as peptoken-records.^[69]

Trapezitica is the first source documenting banking(de Soto – p. 41). The speeches ofDemosthenes contain numerous references to the issuing of credit (Millett p. 5).Xenophon is credited to have made the first suggestion of the creation of an organisation known in the modern definition as a joint-stock bank inOn Revenues writtenc. 353 BCE[70]^[71][72][73]

The city-states of Greece after thePersian Wars produced a government and culture sufficiently organized for the birth of a private citizenship and therefore an embryonic capitalist society, allowing for the separation of wealth from exclusive state ownership to the possibility of ownership by the individual.^[74][75]

According to one source (Dandamaevet al.),trapezites were the first to trade using money, during the 5th century BCE, as opposed to earlier trade which occurred using forms of pre-money.^[76]

The earliest forms of storage utilized were the rudimentarymoney-boxes (ΘΗΣΑΥΡΌΣ^[77]) which were made similar in form to the construction of a bee-hive, and were found for example in the Mycenae tombs of 1550–1500 BCE.^{[78][79][80][81][82][83][84]}

Private and civic entities within ancient Grecian society, especiallyGreek temples, performed financial transactions. (Gilbart p. 3) The temples were the places wheretreasure was deposited forsafe-keeping. The three temples thought the most important were thetemple to Artemis inEphesus, and temple ofHera withinSamos, and withinDelphi, thetemple to Apollo. These consisted of deposits, currency exchange, validation of coinage, and loans.^{[70][72][85][86]}

The first treasury to theApollonian temple was built before the end of the 7th century BCE. Atreasury of the temple was constructed by the city ofSiphnos during the 6th century.^[87][88][89]

Before the destruction by Persians during the 480 invasion, the Athenian Acropolis temple dedicated to Athena stored money;Pericles rebuilt a depository afterward contained within theParthenon.^[90]

During the reign of the Ptolemies, state depositories replaced temples as the location of security-deposits. Records exist to show this having occurred by the end of the reign ofPtolemy I (305–284).^{[91][92][93][94]}

As the need for new buildings to house operations increased, construction of these places within the cities began around the courtyards of the agora (markets).^[95]

Athens received theDelian league's treasury in 454.^[96]

During the late 3rd and 2nd century BCE, the Aegean island ofDelos became a prominent banking center.^[97] In the 2nd century, there were for certain three banks and one temple depository within the city.^[98]

Thirty-fiveHellenistic cities had private banks during the 2nd century (Roberts – p. 130).^[98]

Of the settlements of the Greco-Roman world of the 1st century CE, three were of pronounced wealth and centres of banking:Athens,Corinth andPatras.^{[99][100][101][102]}

Many loans are recorded in writings from the classical age, although a very small proportion were provided by banks. Provision of these were likely an occurrence of Athens, with loans known to have been provided at some time at an annual interest of 12%. Within the boundaries of Athens, bankers' loans are recorded as having been issued on eleven occasions altogether (Bogaert 1968).^{[71][103][104]}

Banks sometimes made loans available confidentially, which is, they provided funds without being publicly and openly known to have done so. In addition, they kept depositors' names confidential as well. This intermediationper se was known as dia tes trapazēs, translated from Latin as "God will trap you".^[85]

Roman banking activities were a crucial presence within temples. For instance the minting of coins occurred within temples, most importantly theJuno Moneta temple, though during the time of the Empire, public deposits gradually ceased to be held in temples, and instead were held in private depositories. Still, theRoman Empire inherited the mercantile practices from Greece (Parker).^{[74][91][105]}

In 352 BCE a rudimentary public bank (known asdēmosía trápeza^[106]) was formed, with the passing of a consular directive to form a commission ofmensarii to deal with debt in the impoverished lower classes. Another source shows banking practices in 325 BCE when, on account of being in debt, thePlebeians were required to borrow money, so newly appointedquinqueviri mensarii were commissioned to provide services to those who had security to provide, in exchange for money from the public treasury. Another source (J. Andreau) has the shops of banking of Ancient Rome firstly opening in the public forums during the period 318 to 310 BCE.^{[107][108][109]}

In earlyAncient Rome deposit bankers were known asargentarii and at a later time (from the 2nd century CE onward) asnummularii (Andreau 1999 p. 2) ormensarii. The banking-houses were known asTaberae Argentarioe andMensoe Numularioe. They would set up their stalls in the middle of enclosed courtyards calledmacella on a long bench called abancu,^{[citation needed]} from which the wordsbanco andbank are derived.^[110] As a money changer, the merchant at thebancu did not so much invest money as merely convert the foreign currency into the only legal tender in Rome—that of the Imperial Mint.^{[72][108][109][111]}

Operations of banking within Roman society were known asofficium argentarii. Statutes (125/126 CE) of the Empire described "letter fromCaesar to Quietus" show rental monies to be collected from persons using land belonging to a temple and given to the temple treasurer. A law,receptum argentarii, obliged a bank to pay its clients debts under guarantee.^{[112][113][114][115]}

Cassius Dio advocated the establishment of a state bank, funded by the sale of all the properties owned at the time by the state.^[116]

In the 4th century monopolies existed inByzantium and in the city ofOlbia in Sardinia.^[117][118]

The Roman empire at some time formalized the administrative aspect of banking and instituted greater regulation of financial institutions and financial practices. Charginginterest on loans and paying interest on deposits became more highly developed and competitive. The development of Roman banks was limited, however, by the Roman preference for cash transactions. During the reign of the Roman emperorGallienus (260–268 CE), there was a temporary breakdown of the Roman banking system after the banks rejected the flakes of copper produced by his mints. With the ascent of Christianity, banking became subject to additional restrictions, as the charging of interest was seen as immoral. With the decrease in economic activity after the fall of Rome and Islamic invasions, banking likely temporarily ended in Europe and was not revived until Mediterranean trade commenced again in the 12th century.^[119]

All early religious systems in the ancient Near East, and the secular codes arising from them, were strict on this practice being forbiddenusury. These societies regarded inanimate matter as alive, like plants, animals and people, and capable of reproducing itself. Hence if you lent 'food money', or monetary tokens of any kind, it was legitimate to charge interest.^[120] Food money in the shape of olives, dates, seeds or animals was lent out as early asc. 5000 BCE, if not earlier. Among theMesopotamians,Hittites,Phoenicians andEgyptians, interest was legal and often fixed by the state.^[121]

TheTorah and later sections of theHebrew Bible criticize interest-taking, but interpretations of the Biblical prohibition vary. One common understanding is that Jews are forbidden to charge interest upon loans made to other Jews, but obliged to charge interest on transactions with non-Jews. However, the Hebrew Bible itself gives numerous examples where this provision was evaded. The interpretation that interest could be charged to non-Israelites would be used in the 14th century for Jews living within Christian societies in Europe to justify lending money for profit. This sidestepped the rules against usury in both Judaism and Christianity, as Christians were not involved in the lending but were still free to take the loans.^{[citation needed]}

Originally, the charging of interest, known asusury, was banned by Christian churches. This included charging a fee for the use of money, such as at abureau de change. However over time the charging of interest became acceptable due to the changing nature of money, and the term 'usury' came to be used for charging interest above the rate allowed by law.^{[citation needed]} The notion of "Christian finance" refers to banking and financial activities that came into existence several centuries ago. Despite the prohibition ofusury and the Church's distrust towards exchange activities (as opposed to production activities),^[122] a number of operations of a banking or financial nature are evidenced by the activities of theKnights Templar (12th century),Mounts of Piety (appeared in 1462) and theApostolic Chamber attached directly to the Vatican (money loans, guarantees, issuance of securities, investments, etc.)

The rise ofProtestantism in the 16th century weakened Rome's influence, and its dictates against usury became irrelevant in some areas, freeing up the development of banking in Northern Europe. In the late 18th century, Protestant merchant families began to move into banking to an increasing degree, especially in trading countries such as the United Kingdom (Barings), Germany (Schroders,Berenbergs) and the Netherlands (Hope & Co.,Gülcher & Mulder). At the same time, new types of financial activities broadened the scope of banking far beyond its origins. One school of thought attributes toCalvinism the setting of the stage for the later development of capitalism in northern Europe.^[123] In this view, elements of Calvinism represented a revolt against the medieval condemnation of usury and, implicitly, of profit in general. Such a connection was advanced in influential works by R. H. Tawney (1880–1962) and byMax Weber (1864–1920). According to Weber, theProtestant work ethic was a force behind an unplanned and uncoordinatedmass action that influenced the development ofcapitalism.

Rodney Stark propounds the theory that Christian rationality is the primary driver behind the success of capitalism and the Rise of the West.^[124]

TheQuran strictly prohibits lending money on Interest. "Believers! Have fear of Allah and give up all outstanding interest if you do truly believe. But if you fail to do so then be warned of war from Allah and His Messenger. If you repent even now you have the right of the return of your capital; neither will you do wrong nor will you be wronged."(2:278-279) "O you who have believed, do not consume usury, doubled and multiplied, but fear Allah that you may be successful" (3:130) "and Allah has permitted trade and has forbidden interest" (2:275).

The Quran states that taking interest and making money through unethical means was prohibited for Muslims and in other communities in earlier times as well: "Because of the wrongdoing of the Jews We forbade them good things which were (before) made lawful unto them, and because of their much hindering from Allah's way, And of their taking usury when they were forbidden it, and of their devouring people's wealth by false pretenses, We have prepared for those of them who disbelieve a painful doom." (Al Quran – 4:160–161)

Riba is forbidden inIslamic economic jurisprudence (fiqh). Islamic jurists discuss two types of riba: an increase in capital with no services provided, which theQur'an prohibits, and commodity exchanges in unequal quantities, which theSunnah prohibits. Trade in promissory notes (e.g. fiat money and derivatives) is forbidden.^{[citation needed]}

Despite the prohibition of charging interest, during the 20th century a number of developments took place that would lead to anIslamic banking model where no interest is charged but banks would still operate for profit. This was done through charging for loans in alternative ways such as through fees and using different methods of risk sharing and ownership models such asleasing.

The roots of modern banking are traceable to medieval and early Renaissance Europe, including Italy'sLombards in the 12th and 13th centuries, France'sCahorsins in the 13th century and in particular the rich Italian cities such asFlorence,Venice, andGenoa.^[125]

The original banks were "merchant banks" that Italian grain merchants invented in theMiddle Ages. AsLombardy merchants and bankers grew in wealth and credit based on the strength of theLombard plains cereal crops, many displaced Jews fleeing Spanish persecution were attracted to the trade. They brought with them ancient practices from the Middle and Far East which had financed the trans-Asiansilk routes. They applied these methods to finance grain production and distribution.

Barred from owning land in Italy, Jews entered the great tradingpiazzas and halls of Lombardy, alongside local traders, and set up their benches to trade in crops. They had one great advantage over the locals: Christians were strictly forbidden from the sin ofusury, lending at interest, which was also condemned in the Islamic world, but with less strictness. The Jewish newcomers, on the other hand, could make high-risk loans to farmers against crops in the field without direct jurisdiction by the Church.^{[citation needed]} They then began to advance payment against the future delivery of grain shipped to distant ports. In both cases they made a profit from the present discount against the future price. This two-handed trade was time-consuming and soon there arose a class of merchants who were trading graindebt instead of grain.

The Jewish trader performed both financing (credit) andunderwriting (insurance) functions. Financing took the form of a crop loan at the beginning of the growing season, which allowed a farmer to cultivate his annual crop, with the associated expenses of seeding, growing, weeding, and harvesting. Underwriting in the form of crop, or commodity, insurance guaranteed the delivery of the crop to its buyer, typically a merchant wholesaler. In addition, traders performed the merchant function by making arrangements to supply the buyer with the crop through alternative sources—grain stores or alternate markets, for instance—in the event of crop failure. He could also keep the farmer (or other commodity producer) in business during a drought or othercrop failure, through the issuance of crop (or commodity) insurance against the hazard of crop failure.

Merchant banking progressed from financing trade on one's own behalf to settling trades for others, and then to holding deposits for settlement of "billette" or notes written by the people who were still brokering the actual grain. And so the merchant's "benches" (bank is derived from the Italian for bench,banca, as in acounter) in the great grain markets became centres for holding money against abill (billette, a note, a letter of formal exchange, later abill of exchange and later still acheque).

These deposited funds were intended to be held for the settlement of grain trades, but often were used for the bench's own trades in the meantime. The term bankrupt is a corruption of the Italianbanca rotta, or broken bench, the symbolic ruin of an insolvent trader. The expression of "being broke" has a similar etymology.

In the 12th century, the need to transfer large sums of money to finance theCrusades stimulated the re-emergence of banking in western Europe. In 1162,Henry II of England levied the first of a series of taxes to support the crusades. TheTemplar andHospitaller Christian knights acted as Henry's bankers in the Holy Land. It isPope Innocent II's decree that allowed the success of the Templar. This decree freed the Templar from paying tithe to the church and also granted them the ability to collect tithe for their own profit.^[126] The Templars' rich land holdings across Europe also emerged during 1100–1300 as the beginning of Europe-wide banking. They took in local currency and issued demand notes redeemable at any of their castles across Europe, allowing movement of money without the usual risk of robbery while traveling. It is unclear if the Templar Knights used any hidden codes or encryptions to protect the notes given from any possible fraud.^[127]

To circumvent the moral prohibition onusury, directly paying money for the use of money, the practice ofdiscounting developed, in theory giving depositors an interest (part ownership) in the trades performed with their money. Similar methods had long been employed in Islamic banking.

Medieval trade fairs, such as the one inHamburg, contributed to the growth of banking^[when?] in a curious way: moneychangers issued documents redeemable at other fairs, in exchange for hard currency. These documents could be cashed at another fair in a different country or at a future fair in the same location. If redeemable at a future date, they would often bediscounted by an amount comparable to a rate of interest. Eventually,^[when?] these documents evolved intobills of exchange, which could be redeemed at any office of the issuing banker. These bills made it possible to transfer large sums of money without the complications of hauling large chests of gold protected by armed guards.

TheRepublic of Venice, sometimes mistakenly credited with establishing a public bank in the 12th century, did not formally do so until 1587 and the establishment of theBanco della Piazza di Rialto. However, in the 13th and 14th centuries its Grain Office did a banking business that included both deposits and lending.^[128] The Republic's system of transferable public debt has also been identified as an important contribution to the development of banking.^[129]

In the middle of the 13th century, groups of Christians, particularly the ItalianLombards and FrenchCahorsins, inventedlegal loopholes to get around the ban on Christian usury;^[130] for example, one method of effecting a loan with interest was to offer money without interest, but also require that the loan be insured against possible loss or injury, and/or delays in repayment (seecontractum trinius).^[130] The Christians utilizing these legal loopholes became known as thepope's usurers, and reduced the importance of the Jews to European monarchs.^[130] Later in the Middle Ages, a distinction evolved between consumable necessities such as food and fuel versus durable goods, with usury permitted on loans that involved the latter.^[130]The most powerful banking families came from Florence, including theAcciaiuoli, Mozzi,^[131]Bardi andPeruzzi families, which established branches in many other parts of Europe.^[1] Probably the most famous was theMedici bank, set up byGiovanni di Bicci de' Medici in 1397^[2] and continuing until 1494.^[132] The oldest banking firm in current operation isBanca Monte dei Paschi di Siena S.p.A. (BMPS).

By the later Middle Ages, Christian merchants who lent money with interest gained ecclesiastical sanction, and Jews lost their privileged position as money-lenders.^[130] Italian bankers would take their place, and by 1327, Avignon had 43 branches of Italian banking houses. In 1347,Edward III of Englanddefaulted on loans. Later there was the bankruptcy of the Bardi (1343^[131]) and Peruzzi (1346^[131]). The accompanying growth of Italian banking in France was the start of theLombard moneychangers in Europe, who moved from city to city along the busy pilgrim routes important for trade. Key cities in this period wereCahors, the birthplace of Pope John XXII, andFigeac.

After 1400, the political turned somewhat against the Italian bankers. In 1401 KingMartin I of Aragon had some of them expelled. In 1403,Henry IV of England prohibited them from taking profits in his kingdom. In 1409,Flanders imprisoned and then expelled Genoese bankers. In 1410, all Italian merchants were expelled from Paris. In 1407, theBank of Saint George,^[133] the first state bank of deposit,^[97][134] was founded in Genoa and was to dominate business in the Mediterranean.^[97]

Between 1527 and 1572 a number of important banking family groups arose from theGenoese Republic in northern Italy, such as theGrimaldi,Spinola andPallavicino families, who were especially influential and wealthy, theDoria, although perhaps less influential, and the Pinelli and the Lomellini.^[135][136]

In 1401 the magistrates ofBarcelona, then the capital of thePrincipality of Catalonia, established in the city the first replication of the Venetian model of exchange and deposit, theTaula de canvi de Barcelona orTable of Exchange, considered to be the firstpublic bank of Europe.^{[137][138][139]}

Halil Inalcik suggests that, in the 16th century,Marrano Jews (Doña Gracia from the House of Mendes) fleeing from Iberia introduced the techniques of European capitalism, banking and even the mercantilist concept of state economy to the Ottoman Empire.^[140] In the 16th century, the leading financiers in Istanbul were Greeks and Jews. Many of the Jewish financiers were Marranos who had fled from Iberia during the period leading up to theexpulsion of Jews from Spain. Some of these families brought great fortunes with them.^[141]The most notable of the Jewish banking families in the 16th-century Ottoman Empire was theMarrano banking house of Mendes, which moved to Istanbul in 1552, under the protection of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. When Alvaro Mendes arrived in Istanbul in 1588, he is reported to have brought with him 85,000 gold ducats.^[142] The Mendes family soon acquired a dominating position in the state finances of the Ottoman Empire and in commerce with Europe.^[143]

They thrived in Baghdad during the 18th and 19th centuries under Ottoman rule, performing critical commercial functions such as moneylending and banking.^[144] Like theArmenians, the Jews could engage in necessary commercial activities, such as moneylending and banking, that were proscribed for Muslims under Islamic law.

Court Jews were Jewish bankers or businessmen who lent money and handled the finances of some of the Christian Europeannoble houses, primarily in the 17th and 18th centuries.^[145] They were most commonly found in Germany, Holland, and Austria, but also in Denmark, England, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Lithuania, Portugal, and Spain.^[146][147] According to Dimont, virtually every duchy, principality, and palatinate in theHoly Roman Empire had a court Jew.^[145] Court Jews were precursors to the modern financier orSecretary of the Treasury.^[145] Their jobs included raising revenues bytax farming, negotiating loans, master of the mint, creating new sources for revenue, floating debentures, devising new taxes, and supplying the military.^[145][148] In addition, the court Jews acted as personal bankers for the nobility: They raised money to cover the noble's personal diplomacy and his extravagances.^[148]

In the southern German realm, two great banking families emerged in the 15th century, theFuggers and theWelsers. They came to control much of the European economy and to dominate international high finance in the 16th century.^{[149][150][151]} The Fuggers built the first German social housing area for the poor inAugsburg, theFuggerei. It still exists, but not the original Fugger Bank which lasted from 1487 to 1657.

Dutch bankers played a central role in establishing banking in the northern German city states.Berenberg Bank is the oldest bank in Germany and the world's second oldest, established in 1590 by Dutch brothers Hans and Paul Berenberg in Hamburg. The bank is still owned by theBerenberg dynasty.^[152]

In the 16th and 17th century, precious metals from theNew World,Gold Coast, Japan and other locales were being imported into Europe, with correspondingprice increases. Thanks to the free coinage,^{[clarification needed]} the Bank of Amsterdam, and the heightened trade and commerce, the Netherlands attracted even more coin and bullion to be deposited in their banks. The concepts offractional-reserve banking and payment systems were further developed and spread to England and elsewhere.^[153]

In the City of London, theRoyal Exchange was established in 1565. In the 17th century, banking houses began operating in a manner recognizable today.^[154][155]

By the end of the 16th century and during the 17th, the traditional banking functions of accepting deposits,moneylending,money changing, and transferring funds were combined with the issuance of bankdebt that served as a substitute forgold andsilver coins.

New banking practices promoted commercial and industrial growth by providing a safe and convenient means of payment and a money supply more responsive to commercial needs, as well as by "discounting" business debt. By the end of the 17th century, banking was also becoming important for the funding requirements of the combative European states. This would lead on to government regulations and the firstcentral banks. The success of the new banking techniques and practices in Amsterdam and London helped spread the concepts and ideas elsewhere in Europe.

Modern banking practice, includingfractional reserve banking and the issue ofbanknotes, emerged in the 17th century. At the time, wealthy merchants began to store their gold with thegoldsmiths ofLondon, who possessed private vaults and charged a fee for their service. In exchange for each deposit of precious metal, the goldsmiths issuedreceipts certifying the quantity and purity of the metal they held as a bailee; these receipts could not be assigned, only the original depositor could collect the stored goods.

Gradually the goldsmiths began to lend the money out on behalf of thedepositor, which led to the development of modern banking practices;promissory notes (which evolved into banknotes) were issued for money deposited as a loan to the goldsmith.^[156]

These practices created a new kind of "money" that was actually debt, that is, goldsmiths' debt rather than silver or gold coin, acommodity that had been regulated and controlled by the monarchy. This development required the acceptance in trade of the goldsmiths' promissory notes, payable on demand. Acceptance in turn required a general belief that coin would be available; and afractional reserve normally served this purpose. Acceptance also required that the holders of debt be able to legally enforce an unconditional right to payment; it required that the notes (as well as drafts) be negotiable instruments. The concept of negotiability had emerged in fits and starts in European money markets, but it was well developed by the 17th century. Nevertheless, an Act of Parliament was required in the early 18th century (1704) to overrule court decisions holding that the goldsmiths' notes, despite the "customs of merchants", were not negotiable.^[157]

In 1695, theBank of England became one of the first banks to issue banknotes, the first being the short-lived banknotes issued byStockholms Banco in 1661.^[158][159] Initially, these were hand-written and issued on deposit or as a loan, and promised to pay the bearer the value of the note on demand inspecie. By 1745, standardized printed notes ranging from £20 to £1,000 were being issued. Fully printed notes that did not require the name of the payee and the cashier'ssignature first appeared in 1855.^[160]

In the 18th century, services offered by banks increased. Clearing facilities, security investments,cheques andoverdraft protections were introduced.Cheques had been used since the 1600s in England and banks settled payments by direct courier to the issuing bank. Around 1770, they began meeting in a central location, and by the 1800s a dedicated space was established, known as abankers' clearing house. The method used by the London clearing house involved each bank paying cash to an inspector and then being paid cash by the inspector at the end of each day. The first overdraft facility was set up in 1728 by theRoyal Bank of Scotland.^[161]

The number of banks increased during theIndustrial Revolution and the growing international trade, especially in London. At the same time, new types of financial activities broadened the scope of banking. The merchant-banking families dealt in everything fromunderwritingbonds to originating foreignloans. These new "merchant banks" facilitated trade growth, profiting from England's emerging dominance in seaborne shipping. Two immigrant families,Rothschild andBaring, established merchant banking firms in London in the late 18th century and came to dominate world banking in the next century.

A great impetus to country banking came in 1797 when, with England threatened by war, the Bank of England suspended cash payments. A handful of Frenchmen landed inPembrokeshire, causing a panic. Shortly after this incident, Parliament authorised the Bank of England and country bankers to issue notes of low denomination.

During the Qing dynasty, the private nationwide financial system in China was first developed by theShanxi merchants, with the creation of so-called "draft banks". The first draft bankRishengchang was created around 1823 in Pingyao. Some large draft banks had branches in Russia, Mongolia and Japan to facilitate international trade. Throughout the 19th century, the central Shanxi region became the de facto financial centre of Qing China.

With the fall of the Qing dynasty, the financial centers gradually shifted toShanghai, with western-style modern banks flourishing.

In 1868, theMeiji government attempted to formulate a functioning banking system, which continued until some time during 1881. They emulated French models. The Imperial mint began using imported machines from Britain in the early years of the Meiji period.^[162][163]

Masayoshi Matsukata was a formative figure of a later banking initiative.^[162]

TheTaula de canvi de Barcelona, established in 1401, is the first example of municipal, mostly public banks which pioneered central banking on a limited scale. It was soon emulated by theBank of Saint George in theRepublic of Genoa, first established in 1407, and significantly later by theBanco del Giro in theRepublic of Venice and by a network of institutions inNaples that later consolidated intoBanco di Napoli. Notable municipal central banks were established in the early 17th century in leading northwestern European commercial centers, namely theBank of Amsterdam in 1609 and theHamburger Bank in 1619.^[164] These institutions offered a public infrastructure for cashless international payments.^[165]

The first national (as opposed to municipal) central bank was the Swedish central bank, known since 1866 asSveriges Riksbank, founded inStockholm in 1664 from the remains of the failedStockholms Banco.^[166] A generation later, the establishment of theBank of England was devised byCharles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, following a 1691 proposal byWilliam Paterson.^[167] Aroyal charter was granted on 1694/07/27 through the passage of theTonnage Act.^[168] The bank was given exclusive possession of the government's balances, and was the only limited-liability corporation allowed to issuebanknotes.^{[169][page needed]} In the early 18th century, a major experiment in national central banking failed inFrance withJohn Law'sBanque Royale in 1720–1721. A comparatively more successful attempt was theBank of Spain established byKing Charles III in 1782. TheRussian Assignation Bank, established in 1769 byCatherine the Great, was an outlier from the general pattern of early national central banks in that it was directly owned by the Imperial Russian government, rather than private individual shareholders. In the nascent United States,Alexander Hamilton, as Secretary of the Treasury in the 1790s, set up theFirst Bank of the United States despite heavy opposition fromJeffersonian Republicans.^[170]

Central banks were established in many European countries during the 19th century.^[171][172] Napoleon created theBanque de France in 1800, in order to stabilize and develop the French economy and to improve the financing of his wars.^[173] The Bank of France remained the most important Continental European central bank throughout the 19th century.^{[citation needed]} TheBank of Finland was founded in 1812, soon after Finland had been taken over from Sweden by Russia to become agrand duchy.^[174] Simultaneously, a quasi-central banking role was played by a small group of powerful family-run banking networks, typified by theHouse of Rothschild, with branches in major cities across Europe, as well asHottinguer in Switzerland andOppenheim in Germany.^[175][176]

The 19th and early 20th centuries central banks in most of Europe andJapan developed under the internationalgold standard.Free banking orcurrency boards were common at the time.^{[citation needed]} Problems with collapses of banks during downturns, however, led to wider support for central banks in those nations which did not as yet possess them, for example in Australia.^{[citation needed]} In the United States, the role of a central bank had been ended in the so-calledBank War of the 1830s by PresidentAndrew Jackson.^[177] In 1913, the U.S. created theFederal Reserve System through the passing ofThe Federal Reserve Act.^[178]

FollowingWorld War I, theEconomic and Financial Organization (EFO) of theLeague of Nations, influenced by the ideas ofMontagu Norman and other leading policymakers and economists of the time, took an active role to promote the independence of central bank, a key component of the economic orthodoxy the EFO fostered at theBrussels Conference (1920). The EFO thus directed the creation of theOesterreichische Nationalbank inAustria,Hungarian National Bank,Bank of Danzig, andBank of Greece, as well as comprehensive reforms of theBulgarian National Bank andBank of Estonia. Similar ideas were emulated in other newly independent European countries, e.g. for theNational Bank of Czechoslovakia.^[179]

By 1935, the only significant independent nation that did not possess a central bank wasBrazil, which subsequently developed a precursor thereto in 1945 and the presentCentral Bank of Brazil twenty years later. After gaining independence, numerous African and Asian countries also established central banks or monetary unions. TheReserve Bank of India, which had been established during British colonial rule as a private company, was nationalized in 1949 following India's independence. By the early 21st century, most of the world's countries had a national central bank set up as apublic sector institution, albeit with widely varying degrees of independence.

TheRothschild family pioneered international finance in the early 19th century. The family provided loans to the Bank of England and purchased government bonds in the stock markets.^[180] Their wealth has been estimated to possibly be the most in modern history.^[181] In 1804,Nathan Mayer Rothschild began to deal on theLondon stock exchange in financial instruments such as foreign bills and government securities. From 1809 Rothschild began to deal ingold bullion, and developed this as a cornerstone of his business. From 1811 on, in negotiation withCommissary-GeneralJohn Charles Herries, he undertook to transfer money to payWellington's troops, on campaign inPortugal and Spain againstNapoleon, and later to make subsidy payments to British allies when these organized new troops after Napoleon's disastrousRussian campaign. His four brothers helped co-ordinate activities across the continent, and the family developed a network of agents, shippers and couriers to transport gold—and information—across Europe. This private intelligence service enabled Nathan to receive in London the news of Wellington's victory at theBattle of Waterloo a full day ahead of the government's official messengers.^[182]

The Rothschild family were instrumental in supporting railway systems across the world and in complex government financing for projects such as theSuez Canal. The family bought up a large proportion of the property inMayfair, London. Major businesses directly founded by Rothschild family capital include Alliance Assurance (1824) (nowRoyal & SunAlliance);Chemin de Fer du Nord (1845);Rio Tinto Group (1873); Société Le Nickel (1880) (nowEramet); and Imétal (1962) (nowImerys). The Rothschilds financed the founding ofDe Beers, as well asCecil Rhodes on his expeditions in Africa and the creation of the colony ofRhodesia.^[183]

The Japanese government approached the London and Paris families for funding during theRusso-Japanese War. The London consortium's issue of Japanesewar bonds would total £11.5 million (at 1907 currency rates).^[184]

From 1919 to 2004 the Rothschilds' Bank in London played a role as place of thegold fixing.

Napoleon III had the goal of overtaking London to make Paris the premier financial center of the world, but the war in 1870 reduced the range of Parisian financial influence.^[185] Paris had emerged as an international center of finance in the mid-19th century second only to London.^[186] It had a strong national bank and numerous aggressive private banks that financed projects all across Europe and the expanding French Empire.

One key development was setting up one of the main branches of theRothschild family. In 1812,James Mayer Rothschild arrived in Paris from Frankfurt, and set up the bank "De Rothschild Frères".^[187] This bank funded Napoleon's return from Elba and became one of the leading banks in European finance. TheRothschild banking family of France funded France's major wars and colonial expansion.^[188] TheBanque de France, founded in 1796 helped resolve the financial crisis of 1848 and emerged as a powerful central bank. TheComptoir National d'Escompte de Paris (CNEP) was established during the financial crisis and the republican revolution of 1848. Its innovations included both private and public sources in funding large projects, and the creation of a network of local offices to reach a much larger pool of depositors.

Building societies were established asfinancial institutions owned by their members asmutual organizations. The origins of the building society as an institution lie in late-18th centuryBirmingham—a town which was undergoing rapid economic and physical expansion driven by a multiplicity of small metalworking firms, whose many highly skilled and prosperous owners readily invested in property.^[189]

Many of the early building societies were based intaverns orcoffeehouses, which had become the focus for a network of clubs and societies for co-operation and the exchange of ideas among Birmingham's highly active citizenry as part of the movement known as theMidlands Enlightenment.^[190] The first building society to be established wasKetley's Building Society, founded by Richard Ketley, the landlord of theGolden Cross inn, in 1775.^[191]

Members of Ketley's society paid a monthly subscription to a central pool of funds which was used to finance the building of houses for members, which in turn acted ascollateral to attract further funding to the society, enabling further construction.^[192][193] The first outside theEnglish Midlands was established inLeeds in 1785.^[194]

Mutual savings banks also emerged at that time, as financial institutions chartered by government, without capital stock, and owned by their members who subscribe to common funds. The institution most frequently identified as the first modern savings bank was the "Savings and Friendly Society" organized by theReverend Henry Duncan in 1810, in Ruthwell,Scotland. Rev. Duncan established the small bank in order to encourage his working class congregation to develop thrift.

Another precursor to the modern savings bank originated in Germany, withFranz Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch andFriedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen who developedcooperative banking models that led on to thecredit union movement. The traditional banks had viewed poor and rural communities asunbankable because of very small, seasonal flows of cash and very limited human resources. In thehistory of credit unions the concepts of cooperative banking spread through northern Europe and onto the US at the turn of the 20th century under a wide range of different names.

To provide depositors who did not have access to banks a safe, convenient method to save money and to promote saving among the poor, the postal savings system was introduced in Great Britain in 1861. It was vigorously supported byWilliam Ewart Gladstone, thenChancellor of the Exchequer, who saw it as a cheap way to finance the public debt. At the time, banks were mainly in the cities and largely catered to wealthy customers. Rural citizens and the poor had no choice but to keep their funds at home or on their persons. The originalPost Office Savings Bank was limited to deposits of £30 a year with a maximum balance of £150. Interest was paid at the rate of two and one-half percent per year on whole pounds in the account.

Similar institutions were created in a number of different countries in Europe, North America, and Japan. One example was in 1881 the Dutch government created the Rijkspostspaarbank (State post savings bank), a postal savings system to encourage workers to start saving. Four decades later they added the Postcheque andGirodienst services allowing working families to make payments via post offices in the Netherlands.

The first decade of the 20th century saw thePanic of 1907 in the US, which led to numerousruns on banks and became known as the bankers panic.

During the Crash of 1929 preceding theGreat Depression, margin requirements were only 10%.^[195] Brokerage firms, in other words, would lend $9 for every $1 an investor had deposited. When the market fell, brokers called in these loans, which could not be paid back. Banks began to fail as debtors defaulted on debt and depositors attempted to withdraw their deposits en masse, triggering multiplebank runs. Government guarantees and Federal Reserve banking regulations to prevent such panics were ineffective or not used. Bank failures led to the loss of billions of dollars in assets.^[196] Outstanding debts became heavier, because prices and incomes fell by 20–50% but the debts remained at the same dollar amount. After the panic of 1929, and during the first 10 months of 1930, 744 US banks failed. By April 1933, around $7 billion in deposits had been frozen in failed banks or those left unlicensed after theMarch Bank Holiday.^[197]

Bank failures snowballed as desperate bankers called in loans that borrowers did not have time or money to repay. With future profits looking poor,capital investment and construction slowed or completely ceased. In the face of bad loans and worsening future prospects, the surviving banks became even more conservative in their lending.^[196] Banks built up their capital reserves and made fewer loans, which intensified deflationary pressures. Avicious cycle developed and the downward spiral accelerated. In all, over 9,000 banks failed during the 1930s.

In response, many countries significantly increasedfinancial regulation. The U.S. established theSecurities and Exchange Commission in 1933, and passed theGlass–Steagall Act, which separatedinvestment banking andcommercial banking. This was to avoid more risky investment banking activities from ever again causing commercial bank failures.

During the postSecond World War period and with the introduction of theBretton Woods system in 1944, two organizations were created: theInternational Monetary Fund (IMF) and theWorld Bank.^[198] Encouraged by these institutions, commercial banks started to lend to sovereign states in the third world. This was at the same time as inflation started to rise in the west. Thegold standard was eventually abandoned in 1971 and a number of the banks were caught out and became bankrupt due to third world country debt defaults.

This was also a time of increasing use of technology inretail banking. In 1959, banks agreed on a standard for machine readable characters (MICR) that was patented in the United States for use withcheques, which led to the first automated reader-sorter machines. In the 1960s, the firstautomated teller machines (ATM) or cash machines were developed and first machines started to appear by the end of the decade.^[199] Banks started to become heavy investors in computer technology to automate much of the manual processing, which began a shift by banks from large clerical staffs to new automated systems. By the 1970s the firstpayment systems started to develop that would lead toelectronic payment systems for both international and domestic payments. The internationalSWIFT payment network was established in 1973 and domestic payment systems were developed around the world by banks working together with governments.^[200]

Global banking and capital market services proliferated during the 1980s afterderegulation of financial markets in a number of countries. The 1986 'Big Bang' in London allowing banks to access capital markets in new ways, which led to significant changes to the way banks operated and accessed capital. It also started a trend where retail banks started to acquire investment banks and stock brokers creatinguniversal banks that offered a wide range of banking services.^[201] The trend also spread to the US after much of theGlass–Steagall Act was repealed in 1999 (during the Clinton Administration), this saw US retail banks embark on big rounds of mergers and acquisitions and also engage in investment banking activities.^[202]

Financial services continued to grow through the 1980s and 1990s as a result of a great increase in demand from companies, governments, and financial institutions, but also because financial market conditions were buoyant and, on the whole, bullish. Interest rates in the United States declined from about 15% for two-year U.S. Treasury notes to about 5% during the 20-year period, and financial assets grew then at a rate approximately twice the rate of the world economy.

This period saw a significant internationalization of financial markets. The increase of U.S. Foreign investments from Japan not only provided the funds to corporations in the U.S., but also helped finance the federal government.

The dominance of U.S. financial markets was disappearing and there was an increasing interest in foreign stocks. The extraordinary growth of foreign financial markets results from both large increases in the pool of savings in foreign countries, such as Japan, and, especially, the deregulation of foreign financial markets, which enabled them to expand their activities. Thus, American corporations and banks started seeking investment opportunities abroad, prompting the development in the U.S. of mutual funds specializing in trading in foreign stock markets.^{[citation needed]}

Such growing internationalization and opportunity in financial services changed the competitive landscape, as now many banks would demonstrate a preference for the "universal banking" model prevalent in Europe.Universal banks are free to engage in all forms of financial services, make investments in client companies, and function as much as possible as a "one-stop" supplier of both retail and wholesale financial services.^[203]

The early 2000s were marked by consolidation of existing banks and entrance into the market of other financial intermediaries:non-bank financial institution. Large corporate players were beginning to find their way into the financial service community, offering competition to established banks. The main services offered includedinsurance, pension, mutual,money market andhedge funds, loans andcredits andsecurities. Indeed, by the end of 2001 the market capitalisation of the world's 15 largest financial services providers included four non-banks.^{[citation needed]}

The first decade of the 21st century saw the culmination of the technical innovation in banking over the previous 30 years and saw a major shift away from traditional banking tointernet banking. Starting in 2015 developments such asopen banking made it easier for third parties to access bank transaction data and introduced standard API and security models.

The process of financial innovation also advanced enormously in the first few decades of the 21st century, increasing the importance and profitability of nonbank finance. Such profitability priorly restricted to the non-banking industry, has prompted theOffice of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to encourage banks to explore other financial instruments, diversifying banks' business as well as improving banking economic health. Hence, as the distinct financial instruments are being explored and adopted by both the banking and non-banking industries, the distinction between different financial institutions is gradually vanishing. For example, in 2020, the OCC muddled the distinction between traditional banking and the cryptocurrency ecosystem when it published a number of interpretive letters clarifying national banks' ability to custody cryptocurrency and provide banking services to cryptocurrency companies,^[204] as well as use blockchain innovations likestablecoins as settlement infrastructure.^[205] In addition, in 2021, the OCC granted its first federal banking charter toAnchorage Digital, a digital asset platform for institutions.^[206]

The2008 financial crisis caused significant stress on banks around the world. The failure of a large number of major banks resulted in government bail-outs. The collapse and fire sale ofBear Stearns toJPMorgan Chase in March 2008 and the collapse ofLehman Brothers in September that same year led to a credit crunch and global banking crises. In response governments around the world bailed-out, nationalised or arranged fire sales for a large number of major banks. Starting with the Irish government on 29 September 2008,^[207] governments around the world provided wholesale guarantees to underwriting banks to avoid panic ofsystemic failure to the whole banking system. These events spawned the term 'too big to fail' and resulted in a lot of discussion about themoral hazard of these actions.

• History of banking in China
• History of banking in Hong Kong
• History of banking in the United Kingdom
• History of banking in the United States

• Andreades, Andreas Michael.History of the Bank of England (Routledge, 2013)
• Cameron, Rondo.Banking in the Early Stages of Industrialization: A Study in Comparative Economic History (1967)
• Cameron, Rondo et al.International Banking 1870–1914 (1992)
• Cassis, Youssef; Grossman, Richard S.; Schenk, Catherine R., eds. (2016).The Oxford Handbook of Banking and Financial History. New York: Oxford University Press.ISBN 978-0-19-965862-6.
• Feis, Herbert.Europe the World's Banker, 1870–1914 (1930)online
• Ferguson, Niall.The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World (2008).
• Ferguson, Niall.The House of Rothschild: Volume 2: The World's Banker: 1849-1999 (2000)
• Grossman, Richard S.Unsettled Account: The Evolution of Banking in the Industrialized World Since 1800 (Princeton University Press; 2010) 384 pages. Considers how crises, bailouts, mergers, and regulations have shaped the history of banking in Western Europe, the United States, Canada, Japan, and Australia.
• Hammond, Bray,Banks and Politics in America, from the Revolution to the Civil War (Princeton University Press, 1957)
• Hudson, Peter James. "On the History and Historiography of Banking in the Caribbean."Small Axe 18.1 43 (2014): 22–37.
• Jaffe, Steven H., and Jessica Lautin.Capital of Capital: Money, Banking, and Power in New York City (Columbia University Press, 2014)
• Kindleberger, Charles P. –A Financial History of Western EuropeISBN 0415378672
• Klebaner, Benjamin J.American commercial banking: A history (Twayne, 1990).online
• Kobrak, Christopher, andWilkins, Mira, eds.History and Financial Crisis: Lessons from the 20th Century (Routledge, 2014)
• Komai, Alejandro, and Gary Richardson. "A history of financial regulation in the USA from the beginning until today: 1789 to 2011." inHandbook of Financial Data and Risk Information I (2014): 385+.
• Lane, Nicholas. "The Fathers of English Banking."History Today (Mar 1953) 3#3 pp 190–199
• Meltzer, Allan H.A History of the Federal Reserve (2 vol. U of Chicago Press, 2010) on U.S.
• Michie, Ranald C.British Banking: Continuity and Change from 1694 to the Present (Oxford UP, 2016) 334 pp.online review
• Murphy, Sharon Ann.Other People's Money: How Banking Worked in the Early American Republic (2017)online review
• Neal, Larry. "How it all began: the monetary and financial architecture of Europe during the first global capital markets, 1648–1815."Financial History Review (2000) 7#2 pp: 117–140.
• Rothbard, Murray N.,History of Money and Banking in the United States.Full text (510 pages) in pdf format
• Soyeda, Juichi.A history of banking in Japan

Wikiquote has quotations related toHistory of banking.

• eabh (The European Association for Banking and Financial History)
• Banking and Bankers at Encyclopedia.com

• History of banking
• Economic history of Italy

• All articles with dead external links
• Articles with dead external links from August 2024
• Articles with permanently dead external links
• CS1 errors: ISBN date
• Webarchive template wayback links
• CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list
• CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list
• CS1: unfit URL
• CS1 maint: location missing publisher
• Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the ODNB
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from January 2025
• Citation overkill
• Articles tagged with the inline citation overkill template from February 2025
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from January 2025
• Articles with unsourced statements from November 2019
• Articles with unsourced statements from November 2023
• Articles with unsourced statements from May 2012
• Articles with unsourced statements from February 2011
• Articles containing Italian-language text
• All articles with vague or ambiguous time
• Vague or ambiguous time from April 2015
• Wikipedia articles needing clarification from February 2014
• Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from October 2015
• Articles with unsourced statements from July 2023
• Articles with unsourced statements from October 2014
• Articles containing video clips