directed to material purposes; in the process
they created new social behaviors. Venice was a
great commercial centre, and it was here that
banking for the first time separated itself from
the changing of money (Roberts 1996). They
evolved to become deposit banks, acting as
custodians of their clients’ money. This proved to
be very useful to traders who gradually learned
to trust the banks. With traders coming to accept
book entry transfers as payment for their
merchandise, banks acquired the role as payment
intermediary between buyers and sellers. As long
as the depositors could trust the banks, most of
their money was laying idle there. This was soon
discovered by the bankers. They realized that
they could hold some reserves against deposits,
and could lend out the rest against some
collateral or invest in promising business
ventures.