The Origins Of Deposit Slips

For most customers, banking is a pretty mundane affair: they go to prepare deposit

slips and put money inside their accounts, or withdraw funds, or make adjustments to the accounts - all errands that take only a small amount of time. And since the majority of banks are now allowing most transactions to be made online, eliminating the hassle of writing deposit slips and standing in long lines, customers no longer need to leave the house. But banking has obviously never been such an effective automated procedure.

Modern banking, as we understand it today, first appeared in Renaissance Italy during the 14th century, but banking practices, in one form or another, have existed since at least the 4th century BC. A Greek drachm coin from a ancient settlement of Trapezus, minted during this period, shows a banker's table piled with coins - evidence of organized money holding and lending.

Though they didn't have ATMs or deposit slips or a lot of the features we affiliate with banking today, they functioned as such by holding onto the assets of merchants and business owners. An equivalent institution would have been the state treasuries of various Greek city states, or even in Rome.

More modern aspects of banking came into being during later centuries, in the Middle East which at the time bridged trade between Europe in the west, and the empires of the east. During the 9th century AD, businessmen and merchants in the Middle East used checks that were in appearance and function remarkably like the ones we use today (though there is no evidence of deposit slips). These were mostly used for traders coming from China to receive payment in Baghdad, as opposed to having to physically carry their coinage over the vast Mongolian steppe.

By the 1300s, Italy's various city states controlled by prominent, influential families were setting up the first modern banks. In cities like Florence, Genoa, and Venice, the affluent Peruzzi and Bardi families controlled most of the banking industry, establishing branches in various other cities throughout northern Italy, as well as the rest of western Europe. The most notable bank of this period however, was operated by the Medici family.

At its apex, the Medici bank managed many of the most prominent accounts in all of Europe. At times, the bank notes issued by the Medici bank had been valued and favored as currency over local legal tender. Their establishment of the bank helped harden their political influence in the area, and was crucial to their becoming one of the most powerful families in all of Europe. The Medici ultimately produced four popes, and became hereditary rulers of Florence, though their influence among various political entities gave them a degree of power and control over many other city states as well.

by: Paul Wise

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