her countries. The others--founded at very
different dates--were established as, or early became, banks of deposit,
like the Bank of England, the Bank of Venice, the Bank of Sweden, the Bank
of France, the Bank of Germany and others. Some reference to these will be
made later. The exchange banks claim the first attention. Important as they
were in their day, the period of their activity is now generally past, and
the interest in their operations has become mainly historical.

In one respect, and that a very important one, the business carried on by
the exchange banks differed from banking as generally understood at the
present time. No exchange bank had a capital of its own nor did it require
any for the performance of the business. The object for which exchange
banks were established was to turn the values with which they were
entrusted into "current money," "bank money" as it was called, that is to
say, into a currency which was accepted immediately by merchants without
the necessity of testing the value of the coin or the bullion brought to
them. The "value" they provided was equal to the "value" they received, the
only difference being the amount of the small charge they made to their
customers, who gained by dealing with them more than equivalent advantages.

Short notices of the Bank of Amsterdam, which was one of the most
important, and of the Bank of Hamburg, which survived the longest, its
existence not terminating till 1873, will suffice to explain the working of
these institutions.

The Amsterdamsche Wisselbank, or exchange bank, known later as the Bank of
Amsterdam, was established by the ordinance of the city of Amsterdam of
31st January 1609. The increased commerce of Holland, which made Amsterdam
a leading city in international dealings, led to the establishment of this
bank, to which any person might bring money or bullion for deposit, and
might withdraw at pleasure the money or the worth of the bullion. The
ordinance which established the bank further required that all bills of 600
gulden (L50), or upwards--this limit was, in 1643, lowered to 300 gulden
(L25)--should be paid through the bank, or in other words, by the transfer
of deposits or credits at the bank. These transfers came afterwards to be
known as "bank money." The charge for making the transfers was the sole
source of income to the bank. The bank was established without any capital
of its own, being understood to have actually in its vaults