There was banking in ancient Mesopotamia at least 4,000 years ago. The first bankers kept gold and silver for people and also lent it out. In ancient Greece and Rome there were companies very much like modern banks.
Florence and Venice, two cities in Italy, became banking centers in the 1400s. In England gold dealers served as bankers until the Bank of England was founded in 1694.
Many people in the United States did not want the U.S. government to control banking. The central Bank of the United States closed in 1836. But in 1913 the U.S. government set up the Federal Reserve System. This system oversees U.S. banks today.
Many banks failed during a period known as the Great Depression that started in 1929. Depositors at these banks lost their money. To protect depositors, the U.S. Congress set up the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in 1933. The FDIC gives depositors money if their bank fails.
Today banks use computers for nearly all their business. Customers often use their home computers for banking, too. People can pay bills or transfer money between bank accounts over the Internet.
