Taula De Canvi
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The Taula de canvi of Barcelona, created in 1401 and still extant in diminished form in the 19th century, was a municipal bank in
Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
that has been described as the first-ever
central bank A central bank, reserve bank, national bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the monetary policy of a country or monetary union. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the mo ...
. A Taula de canvi ("Table of change" in Catalan), also Taula de cambi or simply Taula, was a type of municipal
public bank A public bank is a bank, a financial institution, in which a State (polity), state, municipality, or public actors are the owners. It is an enterprise under government control.
that existed in the
Crown of Aragon The Crown of Aragon (, ) ;, ; ; . was a composite monarchy ruled by one king, originated by the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of Barcelona (later Principality of Catalonia) and ended as a consequence of the War of the Sp ...
in the late Middle Ages and early modern period.


History

The first Taula de canvi was created following a request of the city of Barcelona's main governing body, the
Consell de Cent The Consell de Cent (, meaning in English "Council of One Hundred") was a governmental institution of Barcelona. It was established in the 13th century and lasted until the 18th century. Its name derives from the number of its members: one hund ...
, calling for the establishment of a public bank on 25 April 1400. It ceremonially started its operations on 20 January 1401, inside Barcelona's '.


Structure and governance

The Taula's
charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...
, dated 1405 or 1412 depending on authors, is the oldest preserved public bank regulation. Its design remained essentially unchanged for 300 years until the early 18th century. The Taula was a fully-owned operation of the city with a city guarantee of its deposits, and there is no evidence that it had
capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...
of its own. The city appointed the Taula's ''taulers'' who worked on the table and its cashier for two-years fixed terms and paid their salaries. Other Taula officers, including its regent, chief of deposits, ''credencer'' in charge of first bookings, and notary, were appointed for life. The Taula's coffers had six keys, of which two were held by each ''tauler'' and two by the city councillors. The Taula was also subject to frequent inspection by municipal auditors. In 1609, the city council created the Bank of the City of Barcelona (''Banc de la Ciutat'') as an independent department of the municipal administration, to accept lower-quality
coin A coin is a small object, usually round and flat, used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to facilitate trade. They are most often issued by ...
s than were allowed under the Taula's regulation. In practice, that bank appears to have operated as an extension of the Taula rather than a separate let alone competing institution.


Operations

The Taula's objective was to provide an efficient and stable central deposit and giro transfer system, and, in its initial decades of operations, to provide funding to the city. From 1413 it also served as
fiscal agent A fiscal agent, fiscal sponsor, or financial agent is a proxy that manages fiscal matters on behalf of another party. A fiscal agent may assist in the redemption of bonds or coupons at maturity, disbursing dividends, and handling tax issues. For ...
for the
Generalitat of Catalonia The Generalitat de Catalunya (; ; ), or the Government of Catalonia, is the institutional system by which Catalonia is Self-governance, self-governed as an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. It is made up of the Parli ...
. It accepted both sight deposits and term deposits, in
coin A coin is a small object, usually round and flat, used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to facilitate trade. They are most often issued by ...
or
jewellery Jewellery (or jewelry in American English) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment such as brooches, ring (jewellery), rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the ...
, from residents of the city or its immediate surrounding; deposits were transferable as long as that did not result in
overdraft An overdraft occurs when something is withdrawn in excess of what is in a current account. For financial systems, this can be funds in a bank account. In these situations the account is said to be "overdrawn". In the economic system, if there i ...
, thus the taula's characterization as an early central bank.
Cheques A cheque (or check in American English) is a document that orders a bank, building society, or credit union, to pay a specific amount of money from a person's account to the person in whose name the cheque has been issued. The person writing ...
were in use from the 1520s at the latest. The bank operated on its eponymous table, installed in Barcelona's and covered with a carpet decorated with the arms of Barcelona. It was open every working day from 8 to 10am. From its inception the Taula was systemically significant. Its oldest surviving book records over 500 individual accounts. It kept the deposits of the
Generalitat Generalitat (, literally in English 'Generality') is the name of two major medieval and early modern political institutions and their modern-day analogues in Kingdom of Spain. The ancient Principality of Catalonia and the Kingdom of Valencia we ...
, of the
Barcelona Cathedral The Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia (), also known as Barcelona Cathedral, is the seat of the Archbishop of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. The cathedral was constructed from the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries, with the principa ...
chapter, of religious institutions, of trade bodies, of military orders, and of the Aragonese monarchs. The Taula was granted a monopoly on certain types of deposits, e.g. those of minors. From 1446 to 1499 it also had a legal monopoly on the clearing of
bills of exchange A negotiable instrument is a document guaranteeing the payment of a specific amount of money, either on demand, or at a set time, whose payer is usually named on the document. More specifically, it is a document contemplated by or consisting of a ...
. It competed with private banks to attract deposits, but unlike these did not pay interest on sight deposits. The Taula suspended the convertibility of deposits in 1463-1468 during the Catalan Civil War, 1640-1653 during the
Reapers' War The Reapers' War (, ; , ), also known as the Catalan Revolt or Catalan Revolution, was a conflict that affected the Principality of Catalonia between 1640 and 1659, in the context of the Franco-Spanish War (1635–1659), Franco-Spanish War of 1 ...
, and 1706-1713 during the
War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict fought between 1701 and 1714. The immediate cause was the death of the childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700, which led to a struggle for control of the Spanish E ...
; in the two latter episodes the ''Banc de la Ciutat'' also suspended payments. In 1468, existing depositors were offered the option to convert to bonds of the city at 5 percent, or accept prolonged non-convertibility. After that restructuring and until the 17th century, lending to the city was prohibited. Following the Siege of Barcelona (1713–14), the Taula continued to exist but in restricted form without giro banking, while the ''Banc'' was entirely separated from the city and brought under direct Spanish state control. Another episode of payments suspension occurred in 1812. The Taula's remaining activities were gradually discontinued or taken over by other institutions. It was eventually absorbed by the Bank of Spain in 1853 and stopped paying its last staff in 1865.


Other ''Taules de canvi''


Valencia

Several successive ''Taules de canvi'' were established in
Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...
, respectively from 1408 to 1416 (or 1418), 1519 to 1649 (''Taula Nova''), and 1649 to 1719 (''Taula Novisima''). The Taula of Valencia was a deposit bank and
fiscal agent A fiscal agent, fiscal sponsor, or financial agent is a proxy that manages fiscal matters on behalf of another party. A fiscal agent may assist in the redemption of bonds or coupons at maturity, disbursing dividends, and handling tax issues. For ...
of the city.


Girona

A royal document authorized the creation of a Taula de canvi in
Girona Girona (; ) is the capital city of the Province of Girona in the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 106,476 in 2024, but the p ...
on 23 January 1443. The bank was again established by the City Council on 28 February 1568 and operated until being finally closed by order of King Philip V in 1741.


Other locales

''Taules de canvi'' were also created in
Perpinyà Perpignan (, , ; ; ) is the prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales department in Southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the Mediterranean Sea and the scrublands of the Co ...
(1404), Vic (1413, 1583),
Tarragona Tarragona (, ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in Catalonia (Spain). It is the capital and largest town of Tarragonès county, the Camp de Tarragona region and the province of Tarragona. Geographically, it is located on the Costa Daurada ar ...
(1420),
Palma de Mallorca Palma (, ; ), also known as Palma de Mallorca (officially between 1983 and 1988, 2006–2008, and 2012–2016), is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is ...
(1507),
Lleida Lleida (, ; ; '' see below'') is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital and largest town in Segrià county, the Ponent region and the province of Lleida. Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Central Depression. It ...
(1585), and
Cervera Cervera () is the capital of the '' comarca'' of Segarra, in the province of Lleida, Autonomous Community of Catalonia, Spain. The title Comte de Cervera is a courtesy title, formerly part of the Crown of Aragon, that has been revived for Leonor ...
(1599). A ''Taula de comunes depósitos'' also existed in
Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...
from the 15th to the 18th centuries. No comparable institutions appear to have existed in Castile until the creation of the Banco Nacional de San Carlos in 1782.


See also

* Gran Tavola *
Bank of Saint George The Bank of Saint George ( or informally as ''Ufficio di San Giorgio'' or ''Banco'') was a financial institution of the Republic of Genoa. It was founded on 23 April 1407 to consolidate the public debt, which had been escalating due to the war ...
* Banco del Giro *
Bank of Amsterdam The Bank of Amsterdam or Wisselbank () was an early bank, vouched for by the city of Amsterdam, and established in 1609. It was the first public bank to offer accounts not directly convertible to coin. As such, it has been described as the firs ...
* Hamburger Bank *
List of central banks This is a list of central banks. Central banks by alphabetical order This is a list of central banks. Countries that are only partially recognized internationally are marked with an asterisk (*). Major central banks by currency allocation p ...


Notes

Crown of Aragon History of Catalonia 1401 in Europe
Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
Banks established in the 1400s Banks established in the 15th century {{finance-stub