Evolution Of Banking Industry

The evolution of banking industry had started a long time back, during ancient times. There was reference to the activities of money changers in the temple of Jerusalem in the New Testament. In ancient Greece the famous temples of Delphi and Olympia served as the great depositories for peoples' surplus funds and these were the centers of money lending transaction. Indeed the traces of "rudimentary banking "

were found in the Chaldean, Egyptian and Phoenician history. The development of bank in ancient Rome roughly followed the Greek pattern. Banking suffered oblivion after the fall of the Roman Empire after the death of Emperor Justinian in 565 AD , and it was not until the revival of trade and commerce in the Middle Ages that the lessons of  finance were learn t anew from the beginning.

Money lending in the middle Ages was, however , largely confined to the Jews since the Christians were forbidden by the Canon law to indulge in the sinful act of lending money to others on interest. However, as the hold of the Church loosened with the development of trade and commerce about the thirteenth century Christians also took to the lucrative business of money lending, thereby entering into keep competition with the Jews who had hitherto monopolized the business.

As a public enterprise, banking made its first beginning around the middle of the twelfth century in Italy and the Bank of Venice, founded n 1157 was the first the public banking institution. Following it were established the Bank of Barcelona and the Bank of Genoa in 1401 and 407 respectively. The Bank of Venice and the Bank of Genoa continued to operate until the eighteenth century.