Taula de Canvi, the exchange table, was a financial institution established in 1401. The municipal government of Barcelona authorized the creation of the Taula de Canvi for the safekeeping of city and private deposits as well as to help fund Barcelona´s government.
The action was taken in response to the needs, generated by the increase in trade and long-distance travel produced since the late Middle Ages; both terrestrial and above all maritime that linked the Mediterranean ports ( Marseille, Genoa, Venice, Barcelona, Valencia ) and the Atlantic of Southern and Northern Europe (Seville, Lisbon, France, England, Flanders, and Hansa).
