Endeavor

Former bankers were well positioned to start fintech companies, because they were grounded in the inefficiencies of the Italian financial markets and knew which ones could be addressed with technological solutions. 4 In 1494, the Franciscan friar Luca Pacioli published a mathematics textbook on arithmetic, geometry, and proportionality, describing for the first time in history an accounting method called "double entry accounting," a technique that Florentine merchants had long been using to keep track of revenues and losses. With that, Pacioli documented Europe's first financial innovation. At the time, the founders of the Florentine Medici Bank were just beginning to gain international prominence, and by the end of the 15th century Central and Northern Italy officially became the financial center of the continent. In the following centuries, nonetheless, a series of invasions from other prominent European powers stifled the further development of Italy's financial industry, at the advantage of other financial capitals, like London, Brussels and Amsterdam, that managed to quickly gain control of international trade routes. Things began to change after the Napoleonic era, when Italy benefited from the introduction of a series of scientific and cultural innovations coming from the French Enlightenment, such as the introduction of structured local credit markets, the creation of notary law and foreclosure law and so on. Since then, Northern Italy as a whole - and particularly Milan - began reigniting their relative centrality in financial terms, a process that was that was funneled after the Unification of Italy. The nascent kingdom of Italy devoted growing investments in the industrial development of the country: this process coincided with the rise of the first private banks, such as Banca Sella, founded in 1886 in Biella. After the two World Wars, the war-torn country managed to start a spectacular season of economic renaissance, which lasted until the end of the century and was catalysed by the contribution of a network of solid financial actors, like Mediobanca and Intesa Sanpaolo. Northern Italy was able to capture this new type of economic development, making the country the second industrial power in Europe and of Milan the unmatched business capital of Italy. Since then, Northern Italy has remained a prominent financial center in Europe. Over time, Milan gained prominence as Italy's financial capital, and today, it headquarters Unicredit and a significant portion of Intesa Sanpaolo's activities, two of Europe's biggest banks, about 170 smaller banks, and the Borsa Italiana. 2 A number of foreign financial institutions established headquarters in the Porta Nuova district: AXA, Bank of America, BNP Paribas, China Construction Bank, HSBC, and Accenture, among others. In total, there are an estimated 70,000 people employed in the financial services sector in Milan today. 3 C O N T E X T

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