WARREN J. BLACKMAN has been in academic work for most of his professional life, specialising in the banking field. He held a position as Associate Professor of Economics at Robert College in Turkey prior to becoming Professor of Economics at The University of Calgary in Canada. His books include The Canadian Financial System and Swiss Banking in an International Context.HANS BAUER was a distinguished Swiss economic historian who completed his doctorate under Julius Landmann at the University of Basle. He was Director of Economic Research at the Swiss Bank Corporation prior to his retirement. He has written very many papers and pamphlets dealing with Swiss banking history.

• Frontispiece; Hans Bauer Acknowledgements Introductory PART ONE: THE MEDIAEVAL WORLD OF BANKING AND CURRENCY The Mediaeval Money Economy The Money Changers of Basle PART TWO: THE ROOTS OF SWISS BANKING The Background The Dawn of Modern Switzerland PART THREE: NINETEENTH-CENTURY BANKING Savings Banking and the Industrial Revolution The Development of a New Swiss Banking System: The Railway The Banking World of the Nineteenth Century Swiss Banks Reach their Formative Stage Nineteenth-Century Capitalism PART FOUR: THE TRAGEDY OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY The End of an Era Reconstruction The Tragedy of War and the Dawn of a New Era Index