Strengthening Banking Systems: Lessons From Around the World and Across the Ages

I. Introduction Banking-style institutions have existed for over two thousand years and are even documented in the earliest civilizations. For example, in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, barley and grain were forms of currency and the grain silos and state warehouses acted as banks. 1 An ancient Babylonian clay tablet explains that city workers received wages denominated in liters of barley that were " paid " by being placed in reserve at a local silo. When the worker wished to use his barley wages, such as to purchase a pair of shoes, the worker would give the shoemaker a receipt authorizing a withdrawal of barley from the local silo. These ancient banking operations became so widespread that laws governing them were included in the Code of Hammurabi.