The history of the part played by the sedentary merchant in financing the business of his time is a long and important story. We know that merchants served as suppliers of capital to others as far back as in twelfth-century Genoa. Through the centuries mercantile families and sedentary merchants, as they grew old and rich, tended to specialize in lending money for business purposes. This contribution of the sedentary merchant was important in the economic life of many countries over centuries of time.