The fourth volume in the Magyar Nemzeti Bank’s book series bears the title ‘Banks in History: Innovations and Crises’ and was edited by Barnabás Virág and Gergely Fábián, the Bank’s Executive Directors. In the book, the Magyar Nemzeti Bank presents in detail the crucial milestones in the evolution of today’s banking system, placing special emphasis on the financial innovations of different eras and prominent actors in economic history.

Economic crises led to the emergence of complex challenges, bringing about new approaches in economic policy and finance worldwide. To understand these thoroughly, readers are required to familiarise themselves with banking crises and financial innovations in earlier ages. The papers in this volume track the changes in the role of money and banks from the birth of the first written documents to the present day. They also present all the innovations which sped up the development of financial affairs, and also those that yielded no results. The book does not only describe how banks were first established and their history, but also helps readers find their way amidst the current challenges the financial system is facing and the responses still evolving today.