Historical Financial Institutions

Connected Sites

Site Rationale Link
Brugge House of the Van der Burse family: in the late 13th century commodity traders in Bruges gathered inside the house of a man called Van der Burse, and in 1309 they institutionalized this until now informal meeting and became the "Bruges Bourse". The idea spread quickly around Flanders and neighbouring counties.
Florence The HQ of the Medici Bank 1397-1494. A very significant Bank in European and world financial history. At the Via dell'Arte della Lana were the "bancos" or benches where Florentine bankers carried out their trade and from which the very word "Bank" came.
Genoa Palazzo San Giorgio: Bank of Saint George, founded in 1407
La Lonja de la Seda it housed the Taula de Convis i Deposits, a banking institution
Lyon Crédit Lyonnais is found in Lyon in 1863 (Known as Le Crédit Lyonnais since 2003)
Old City of Jerusalem Knights Templar HQ for its Euro wide financial system. "Since the monks themselves were sworn to poverty, but had the strength of a large and trusted international infrastructure behind them, nobles would occasionally use them as a kind of bank or power of attorney."
Ping Yao Major banking centre for the whole of China in the 19th and early 20th centuries (held ca. 20 draft banks, among which is the Rishengchang, considered the first draft bank in China's history founded in 1823)
Siena Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena S.p.A., the oldest surviving bank since 1472. Located in Palazzo Salimbeni.
Valparaiso Bolsa de Corredores de Valparaiso (1892)
Vienna Wiener Börse: one of the world's oldest exchanges and was founded in 1771 during the reign of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria in order to provide a market for state issued bonds.

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