Financials: The History of Banking in America

It is no exaggeration to say that banks, and the credit they provide, grease the wheels of the American economy. But a look back at the last 150 years of banking reveals that the path hasn’t always been smooth for the nation’s leading lenders, including JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), and Citigroup (NYSE: C).

In this episode of Industry Focus: Financials, Gaby Lapera and John Maxfield trace this past back to the 1860s, when the modern American banking system was established to help the Union Army finance the Civil War.