by The World’s First Modern Public Debt Institution
This nomination for the founders and administrators of the Bank of Saint George (Casa di San Giorgio) in Genoa, established in 1407. This was not a bank in the modern commercial sense but a revolutionary institution for managing public debt. The Genoese state consolidated its various loans into a single funded debt managed by the Bank, which was controlled by the state’s creditors (bondholders). The Bank was given the right to collect specific taxes and manage certain colonies (like Corsica) to service this debt. It effectively became a state within a state, a corporation of creditors that administered public revenues with remarkable efficiency. It issued negotiable shares, paid dividends, and provided maritime loans. The Casa di San Giorgio demonstrated that public debt could be institutionalized, made tradable, and managed by a dedicated, financially disciplined body separate from the day-to-day government. It proved that creditor confidence could be maintained by giving bondholders direct control over revenue streams, a model that prefigured modern central banking and sovereign debt management.
