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Questions tagged [banking]

Questions related to the history of financial institutions accepting deposits from the public, creating credit, and often including lending activities.

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How can I evaluate the relative fiscal burden on different groups in the US, for various periods between 1790 and 1846?

What are some good ways to evaluate the relative burden of government finance on different groups in the US, for various periods between 1790 and 1846? I'm especially interested in state and local ...
capet's user avatar
  • 204
22 votes
3 answers
5k views

How did bank transactions (or "data" transactions) work when it took people weeks to travel vast distances?

I am designing a prototype for a distributed database that could work across vast distances of space, like the goals behind IPFS working at planetary, or galactic, scale. I want to solve the problem, ...
Lance Pollard's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
120 views

Why was the Federal Reserve District in the United States so skewed in division?

I am always wondering why the Federal Reserve district in the United States is so unevenly divided. Is it by the population? Any historic reason? As see on image here I initially thought it was by ...
Jackson Plumber's user avatar
4 votes
3 answers
462 views

How did Islamic finance under the early Caliphates profit or take loans if charging interest wasn't legal?

Under Islamic Law, any type of interest is considered usury and therefore illegal (in the religious context). How did lenders make money under this restriction? I am asking in the time frame from ...
MrMineHeads's user avatar
25 votes
4 answers
5k views

Why were so many of the earliest banks founded by cloth merchants?

I recently noticed that a lot of early banks, including Metzler and Berenberg, were founded by cloth merchants. Any idea why this particular line of trade was most conducive to setting up investment ...
TheChymera's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
125 views

Who kept Roman peculium records?

This is effectively a Roman banking question but specifically with respect to the custody and record keeping of slaves wages. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities indicates a need for a lot of ...
Amethyst Wizard's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
7k views

When Lehman Brothers collapsed, what happened to their clients?

For example, let's say a teacher held $10,000 in the account and another $10,000 in shares of other companies (LEH acting as a broker). Was the teacher able to get her money back after the Lehman ...
Endudu Eklolo's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
281 views

How was money transferred in early 1900s' Russia?

I'm reading Young Stalin by Simon Sebag Montefiore. The book frequently quotes letters between him and fellow revolutionaries, often when he was in internal exile in some obscure corner of Siberia. ...
ConanTheGerbil's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
318 views

Why were eighteenth century financial inventions only patentable under French law for 21 months?

This Tontine wikipedia article says, Financial inventions were patentable under French law from January 1791 until September 1792 Why did that practice stop after less than 2 years?
Gabriel Fair's user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
271 views

Were Cypriots able to pay their bills during the "bail in" of March 2013?

During the Cypriot financial crisis, it seems that a "bank holiday" was announced on March 16 and lasted until March 26, during which time ATM withdrawals were impossible or at least tightly ...
Nathaniel is protesting's user avatar
10 votes
3 answers
1k views

How did the Medici originally get into finance?

I'm trying to find out how the Medici family rose to power. Most sites simply say, "Banking and finance." I'm trying to figure out a bit more specific. How did Cosimo de Medici originally get into ...
Ryan's user avatar
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8 votes
1 answer
511 views

Is it true that there was no such thing as a Hispanic-owned bank in the continental USA until 1969?

I was doing some online research on the subject of minority-owned banks in the USA, and I stumbled across this passage on the History page of the website of the National Bankers Association. ...
Lorendiac's user avatar
  • 251
0 votes
2 answers
1k views

When did banks start giving interest to depositors?

I was on Wikipedia on Friday and I cant remember how I got to this page but there was a Jewish American banker from Pren, Lithuania, born in 1869, died in 1939 in New York, whose last name began with ...
Clint Eastwood's user avatar
6 votes
0 answers
173 views

Why did the Georgia Railroad and Banking Company have a banking company?

I am reading newspapers from Savannah, GA 1842 (Oct. & Nov.) and they often mention the Georgia Railroad and Banking Company (originally called Georgia Railroad Company). I am not understanding ...
rconmstr's user avatar
-1 votes
1 answer
231 views

What was the first electronic creation of money?

What was the first electronic creation of money? There seems to be some confusion as to what I'm asking. I read about quantitative easing and as far as I can tell that's something different. I'm not ...
DrZ214's user avatar
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10 votes
3 answers
13k views

What was happening to bank deposits during WW2?

I'm curious what was happening with people's money in banks in countries involved in World War Two. Were they frozen, lost or banks were functioning no matter who was currently controlling territory?
teodozjan's user avatar
  • 203
1 vote
1 answer
729 views

What is the oldest debt that any country is paying right now, and to whom? [closed]

What is the oldest debt that any country is paying right now, and to whom? To another country, an institution like World Bank, or to private entities? What were the historic causes for the debt? What ...
Nikhil VJ's user avatar
  • 297
3 votes
2 answers
1k views

How is the oldest bank in Mongolia only 24 years old?

According to Wikipedia, the Trade and Development Bank of Mongolia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_and_Development_Bank_of_Mongolia) is the oldest bank in Mongolia. This is further supported by a ...
corsiKa's user avatar
  • 632
10 votes
2 answers
2k views

What was the effect of the Panic of 1837 on financial/banking policy?

Were there any direct or immediate financial/banking policies made because of this recession? I've read that a combination of factors helped get America out of the Panic, but it never mentioned a ...
stumped's user avatar
  • 203
4 votes
0 answers
131 views

"Napoleon suppressed independent banks" vs. "Monte dei Paschi di Siena"

Wikipedia's article about Bank of Saint George states that: After Napoleon invaded Italy, he suppressed independent banks, and this led to the Bank's closure in 1805. However Monte dei Paschi di ...
o0'.'s user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
113 views

Which bank was the oldest surviving bank in the world prior to MPS getting that status?

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena S.p.A. [...] (MPS) is the oldest surviving bank in the world [...] Wikipedia: 1 (and 2, 3) Assuming that this is correct, and using the same criteria, which was the ...
user avatar
12 votes
3 answers
46k views

What happened to the wealth of the Rothschild banking family? [closed]

The Rothschild family was possibly the richest banking family in human history. Given the power of compounding over time and the large principal sum that they start with, they should easily be the ...
curious's user avatar
  • 4,546
4 votes
0 answers
456 views

What happened to the overseas wealth of the Holocaust Jews?

Hitler confiscated the wealth of Jews in his conquered territories. But what happened to the overseas wealth of the Holocaust Jews? Were they swallowed conveniently by foreign banks/countries ...
curious's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
302 views

When did Germany begin to store it's gold deposits abroad? [closed]

I just learned from this question that Germany is storing it's gold reserves around the globe. When did this practice start? What was occurring at that time that drove the decision? And an ...
Vorac's user avatar
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39 votes
3 answers
191k views

Did Rothschild say this famous quote? If yes, what did he mean by it?

"Give me control of a nation's money and I care not who makes it's laws" — Mayer Amschel Bauer Rothschild This prominent international banker is commonly quoted this. First, did he actually say it? ...
user avatar
50 votes
2 answers
10k views

Where did the Romans store their cash?

In the era before banking was invented, where did wealthy Romans store their cash? The emperor probably could store it somewhere in the imperial palace thanks to the Praetorian guard, but what about ...
Karlth's user avatar
  • 2,209
11 votes
3 answers
6k views

Why is Alexander Hamilton considered the father of modern banking?

I've been hearing the phrase recently that Alexander Hamilton is considered the "father of modern banking", but haven't really come up with any explanation or definition that I can really understand ...
MichaelF's user avatar
  • 7,547
12 votes
4 answers
5k views

How did New York become the financial hub of America?

Why did New York become the financial hub of America, rather than one of the other big cities?
Casebash's user avatar
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