local bankers began to credit and debit from the accounts of one another’s depositors—as with modern checking accounts. In this way, even huge amounts of money could be transferred without involving coins. When such a transfer was made over a considerable distance, it involved a bill of exchange—a notarized document authorizing payment to a specific individual or firm. To settle payment for wool cloth shipped from Bruges to Genoa, for example, a bill of exchange was sent to a bank in Bruges from a bank in Genoa, whereupon the Bruges bank credited the account of the woolen firm and entered this
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