Italian banks set a new standard
Banking during the Renaissance era took on a new level of sophistication .
Hubs in Venice and Florence developed innovative credit products that enabled merchants to travel long distances without fear of financial ruin from their stores of cash being stolen . These were analogous to modern cheques . Florentine banks later also created treasury bonds .
c . 14th century
The template for modern banking emerges
Adam Smith conceptualised a model of banking that was independent of state oversight and self-regulated . Alexander Hamilton later developed this idea into the creation of a national bank and uniform currency in the US .
This created stability for a sector that had become notoriously parochial and ephemeral ; local banks generally did not survive longer than five years .
18th and 19th centuries
Retail banking grapples with regulation
By now , retail banks offered customers three primary products : credit , deposit , and wealth management .
Lack of regulation in banking precipitated both the 1929 Great Depression and the 2008 financial crisis . The conversation regarding what banks can and can ’ t do with depositor funds continues to this day .
20th and 21st centuries