Pre-Industrial

The Hanseatic League, a confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Northern Europe from th...

The Knights Templar operated the most extensive financial network in medieval Europe. With commander...

The concept of using property as collateral for loans dates to ancient Rome, but modern mortgage sys...

Italian banking houses of the 14th and 15th centuries invented modern banking. The Medicis, Peruzzis...

Venice developed Europes most sophisticated medieval banking system. The Banco di Rialto, founded in...

The worlds oldest continuously operating bank, founded in Siena in 1472 as a charitable mount of pie...

The concept of compound interest, where interest is charged on accumulated interest, was known to an...

The concept of checking accounts, where depositors can write instructions to their bank to transfer ...

The Fugger banking house of Augsburg dominated European finance in the early 16th century. Jakob Fug...

Paper money was invented in China during the Tang Dynasty around 800 AD and became government policy...

The Monte di Pieta, or mount of piety, was invented by Franciscan monks in Perugia in 1462 as a char...

The Medici Bank operated branches across Europe from 1397 to 1494. At its peak, the bank had 11 bran...

Venice was Europes banking center during the medieval period. Venetian bankers developed the bill of...

The Banco di Napoli, founded in 1539 as the Monte della Pietà of Naples, became one of the most impo...

Genoese bankers rivaled and sometimes surpassed the Medicis during the Renaissance. Genoese banks fi...