120 Fun Facts About Banking

From which Old Italian word meaning 'table' does the word 'bank' derive?

It goes back to Old High German for bench or counter.

The word 'bankrupt' comes from the Italian 'banca rotta', meaning what?

The symbolic ruin of an insolvent trader.

What is the oldest existing retail bank in the world?

It was founded in 1472.

In which Italian city is the world's oldest bank headquartered?

It began as a mount of piety in 1472.

What is the world's oldest merchant banking house, founded around 1590?

It was founded by Flemish refugees in Hamburg.

Roughly when did the first prototype banks give grain loans in Assyria, India and Sumer?

Temple lenders followed in Greece and Rome.

Which medieval military order issued letters of credit to pilgrims from 1150?

It may have been the first use of bank cheques.

Which two Florentine families dominated banking before going bankrupt in the 1340s?

Both had branches across Europe.

Who founded the famous Florentine bank of 1397?

His son Cosimo took over in 1434.

Which accounting method did the Medici Bank help develop?

Debits and credits tracked in a general ledger.

Which two great banking families emerged in southern Germany in the 15th century?

The Fuggers of Augsburg bankrolled emperors.

What did London goldsmiths issue in exchange for deposits of precious metal in the 17th century?

These receipts were an ancestor of banknotes.

The Bank of Amsterdam, founded in 1609, was the first public bank to do what?

Some call it the first true central bank.

What is the world's oldest surviving central bank?

Established by the Riksdag in 1668.

Which private bank preceded the Riksbank in Sweden and collapsed after issuing too many notes?

Its founder Johan Palmstruch was blamed.

In what year was the Bank of England established?

It was the government's banker and debt manager.

Which Scottish trader proposed the national bank that became the Bank of England?

He suggested it in 1691.

What is the Bank of England's nickname?

From a 1797 James Gillray cartoon.

In what year was the Bank of England nationalised?

Under the Attlee government.

Roughly how much gold did the Bank of England hold in its vaults as of 2016?

It stores gold for around 30 other countries too.

Which institution was the first in Europe to successfully print its own banknotes?

It still prints sterling notes today.

In what year did the Scottish Parliament establish Scotland's first bank?

One year after the Bank of England.

Who set up the first overdraft facility, in 1728?

Merchant William Hogg was the customer.

Who is thought to have first personalised cheques with the account holder's name, in 1811?

The name was printed vertically along the left edge.

From which Persian word does the 'check' in 'cheque' ultimately derive, via chess?

'A check against forgery.'

The person who writes a cheque is known as what?

The bank is the drawee.

Where was the world's first ATM installed, on 27 June 1967?

It beat a Swedish machine by nine days.

Which engineer is credited with leading the team that invented the first cash machine?

He worked for printing firm De La Rue.

What is an ATM commonly called in Canada?

ATM is also common there.

What are cash machines not operated by a financial institution called?

About 3.5 million ATMs existed worldwide in 2015.

Which system, where lenders hold only part of deposits as reserves, do most countries use?

The alternative, full-reserve banking, is hypothetical.

Which international standards set banks' minimum capital requirements?

Basel I came in 1988, Basel III after 2008.

In which year was Basel I first issued?

Basel II followed in 2004 and Basel III in 2010.

What is a 'run', in the sense feared by every deposit-taker?

It can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Which economists' model explains why bank runs occur, and won a Nobel in 2022?

It is a game with more than one Nash equilibrium.

Which 2023 'cyber run' saw customers withdraw $42 billion in a single day?

Nearly a quarter of its deposits.

Which classic 1946 film, set in 1932, depicts a bank run?

Mary Poppins also has one, set in 1910 London.

When was the US Federal Reserve System created?

After a series of financial panics.

Which president signed the Federal Reserve Act into law?

It was part of his New Freedom agenda.

How many regional Federal Reserve Banks are there?

They regulate privately owned commercial banks.

What are the two parts of the Fed's 'dual mandate'?

Moderating long-term interest rates is the third objective.

Which Fed body sets monetary policy by adjusting the funds-rate target?

The FOMC.

Where in Georgia did Senator Aldrich secretly meet financiers to draft the Fed plan?

The Aldrich Plan favoured private control.

What is the name of the Fed's regular survey of economic conditions?

It also runs the FRED database.

Which Federal Reserve Bank is custodian of the world's largest gold storage reserve?

Its vault is at 33 Liberty Street.

Who set up the First Bank of the United States in the 1790s?

Jeffersonian Republicans opposed it.

Which president vetoed the recharter of the Second Bank of the United States in the 'Bank War'?

He beat bank president Nicholas Biddle and Henry Clay.

In which city was the Second Bank of the United States located?

It was chartered from 1816 to 1836.

Which Act created the FDIC?

More than a third of banks had failed before it.

What FDIC insurance limit per ownership category did Dodd–Frank set in 2010?

The $250,000 cap, raised temporarily in 2008, was made permanent by Dodd–Frank in 2010.

What was the FDIC's initial insurance limit in 1934?

About $60,000 in today's money.

What is the FDIC's primary source of funding?

It is not supported by public funds.

What did the Glass–Steagall provisions of 1933 separate?

They were largely repealed in 1999.

Which 1999 law repealed Glass–Steagall's affiliation restrictions?

Bill Clinton said Glass–Steagall was 'no longer appropriate'.

On what date did Lehman Brothers file for bankruptcy?

The Dow fell 4.5% that day.

Roughly how much in assets was involved in Lehman's bankruptcy, the largest in US history?

Liquidation ran until 2022.

Which Japanese firm bought Lehman's Asia-Pacific franchise after the collapse?

Barclays took much of the US business.

How many cents on the dollar did Lehman's general unsecured creditors eventually recover?

Customers got back all $106 billion they were owed.

Which merchant house collapsed in 1995 after losses of £827 million by trader Nick Leeson?

It was founded in 1762.

For how much did Dutch bank ING buy the collapsed merchant house after Leeson's losses?

It also took over all of Barings' liabilities.

Which historic 1802 land deal did the Baring family's house help finance?

It doubled the size of the United States.

Which natural disaster upset markets and wrecked Nick Leeson's Nikkei bets?

He had bet on a rapid recovery.

Who played Nick Leeson in the 1999 film Rogue Trader?

Based on Leeson's own autobiography.

Where did Nick Leeson serve his sentence?

More than four years.

Which company bought Northern Rock's branches in 2012?

For £747 million up front.

In which city was Northern Rock, victim of the UK's first bank run in 150 years, based?

It began as a building society.

Roughly what share of US savings and loan associations failed between 1986 and 1995?

The cost to taxpayers was $123.8 billion.

Which figure led the notorious Lincoln Savings and Loan?

He bought support from five US senators.

Which bank was the world's largest lender by total assets in 2024?

It was created in 1984 from the People's Bank of China.

Which US bank was the world's most valuable lender by market capitalisation in 2024?

It is headquartered at 270 Park Avenue.

Which founding father established the Bank of the Manhattan Company in 1799?

He turned a water company into a bank.

In what year did J. P. Morgan found J.P. Morgan & Co. at 23 Wall Street?

It merged with Chase Manhattan in 2000.

In which city is Bank of America's corporate headquarters?

Executive offices are in Manhattan.

Under what name did Amadeo Giannini found the San Francisco lender that grew into BofA, in 1904?

It served Italian immigrants in San Francisco.

What was Bank of America's 1958 credit card, BankAmericard, renamed in 1977?

Interbank was launched to compete with it in 1966.

Which two banks merged in 1998 to form today's Bank of America?

The second-largest US bank.

In which city was HSBC established in 1865?

It was incorporated as the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.

Which British lender did HSBC take over in 1992?

It made HSBC a major UK domestic bank.

Which P&O figure founded HSBC on 'sound Scottish banking principles'?

HSBC traces its origins to a hong trading house.

Which man founded his eponymous Wall Street firm in a one-room basement office in 1869?

The office was next to a coal chute.

Where and when was Deutsche Bank founded?

It financed foreign trade and German exports.

Which two men founded the express-and-banking company that served gold-rush California in 1852?

They had also founded American Express.

Under what name was Citibank chartered on June 16, 1812?

It became National City Bank in 1865.

The Rothschild banking dynasty rose from which German city?

The name comes from the family house, built in 1567.

How many sons did Mayer Amschel Rothschild send to found banks across Europe?

The family arms show five arrows.

News of which battle reached Nathan Rothschild a full day before the British government?

Thanks to the family courier network.

Which numbered Psalm inspired the five arrows on the Rothschild coat of arms?

'Like arrows in the hands of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth.'

At which 1944 conference were the World Bank and IMF established?

In New Hampshire, based on ideas of Keynes and Harry Dexter White.

Where is the World Bank headquartered?

It is a family of five organisations.

By tradition, the president of the World Bank is of which nationality?

The IMF chief is traditionally European.

How many member countries did the IMF have when it formally began in 1945?

It now has 190.

Which body, established in 1930 and based in Basel, is the oldest of its global kind?

It is based in Basel.

Who was the first president of the European Central Bank?

He came from the Dutch central bank.

How many members did the Eurozone have when the ECB was created?

Greece joined in 2001.

What is the Bank of Japan called for short?

It was founded in 1882.

Which European institution was the model for Japan's monetary authority, designed in 1882?

Founded in 1882 under finance minister Matsukata.

Which 19th-century writer's book Lombard Street urged central banks to be lenders of last resort?

'Bagehot's dictum'.

What monopoly does a central bank hold that a commercial bank does not?

Many also supervise commercial banks.

In what year was Swiss banking secrecy codified in federal law?

It made disclosing client information a crime.

What did Switzerland agree to in 2017 that effectively ended its banking secrecy?

Known as AEOI.

Where is SWIFT, the interbank messaging cooperative, headquartered?

It was founded in 1973.

What did banks use for international transactions before SWIFT?

Manual writing and reading of messages.

What is the name of SWIFT's annual financial-industry conference?

SWIFT also assigns BIC codes.

What is the maximum length of an IBAN?

It starts with a country code and two check digits.

How many countries were using the IBAN system by December 2024?

It began as a European standard.

On which Indonesian island were the earliest known pig-shaped money boxes made, in the 12th century?

Majapahit terracotta piggy banks survive from Trowulan.

What do collectors call a piggy-style coin box, as opposed to a 'mechanical' one?

Mechanical banks were popular in the early 1900s.

Why is a UK public holiday called a 'bank holiday'?

As they once did on certain saints' days.

From which Law French phrase does the word 'mortgage' derive?

The pledge dies when the debt is paid or the property seized.

Who founded the first rural credit union in Germany, in 1864?

Schulze-Delitzsch had started urban ones in 1852.

Where did North America's first credit union open in 1901, with a 10-cent deposit?

The Caisse Populaire de Lévis.

Which robber, asked why he robbed banks, reportedly said 'Because that's where the money is'?

He lived from 1901 to 1980.

Who is regarded as the first 'modern' bank robber, pioneering casing and getaway maps?

Dillinger later used his methods.

In what year did the first US bank robbery reportedly occur, according to The New York Times?

In March, in New York City.

Whose strongrooms famously survived the Hiroshima atomic blast with contents intact?

Mosler Safe Company used it in advertising.

What does a bank vault's time lock do?

A defence against forcing staff to open it.

Which country produced the first polymer banknote, in 1988?

CSIRO and the Reserve Bank of Australia developed it.

A demand deposit account balance is legally what?

There are no banknotes 'in' the account.

The earliest-known state deposit bank, the Taula de canvi, was founded in 1401 in which city?

It was created by the Consell de Cent; Genoa's Bank of Saint George followed six years later.

In the US, which body is the primary federal regulator for national banks?

The Fed is the main regulator for state banks that are Fed members, and the FDIC oversees any bank with FDIC-insured deposits.