Bank
A bank is a financial institution, that keeps current accounts for its customers. Banking includes, but is not limited to activities as:
- issue of banknotes
- settlement of payments
- lending money
- currency exchange
History of Banking
The first banks were probably the religious temples of the ancient world.
See also: History of money and banking in the US
Banknotes
- Main article: Banknote
Banks issue banknotes. Historically, they were money substitutes, that the bank was prepared to exchange free of charge against money proper.[1] With paper money, a banknote is a promise to the same amount of paper money.[2]
External links
- History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II by Murray N. Rothbard
- A Short History of Paper Money and Banking by William M. Gouge
- Free Banking: Theory, History and a Laissez-Faire Model (pdf) by Larry J. Sechrest
- Wikipedia on banks and history of banking
References
- ↑ Ludwig von Mises. "11. The Money-Substitutes", Human Action, online version, Chapter XVII. Indirect Exchange, referenced 2009-06-29.
- ↑ Jörg Guido Hülsmann. "The Ethics of Money Production", online version, Chapter 12. Paper Money p.162, referenced 2009-06-30.