So early as the year 1349 the business of banking was carried on after a fashion by the drapers of Barcelona, who were probably the most wealthy class of merchants in that city. But by an ordinance of the king of Arra-gon, they were not allowed to commence this branch of trade until they had first given sufficient security. In the year 1401 a public bank was established by the magistrates. It was called the Table of Exchange, and was properly a bank of exchange and deposit. Foreign bills were negotiated with the same liberality as those of the citizens, and accommodations were extended to strangers as well as to natives. It was altogether calculated for the encouragement of both external and internal commerce, and the funds of the city were pledged as security for the responsibility of the bank.

The Bank of Genoa. In the year 1407, the bank of Genoa commenced, owing its origin to the debts of the state. Previous to this time, the republic borrowed large sums of money from the citizens, assigning certain branches of the revenue for the payment of the interest, and accounting to government for the funds intrusted to its care. From this circumstance, the Genoese claim the merit of establishing a bank as early as the Venetians; but it is evident that the transactions of this board were only an approximation to banking. In process of time, however, the multiplicity and extent of these funds induced disorder and confusion, and it was deemed expedient to consolidate the whole into one capital stock, to be managed by a bank called the Chamber of St. George, to be governed by eight protectors, annually chosen, elected by the creditors and stockholders. Under this form of government, the affairs of the bank were prosperously conducted; but the further increase of the public debts, and the acquirement of towns and territories as security, among which were the port of Caffa and the little kingdom of Corsica, made the business of the bank much more complex; and the inconvenience of annual successions of new protectors becoming apparent, determined the Genoese, in the year 1444, to elect eight new governors for the management of the bank, of which only two were to go out every year.