At once with the development of money as medium of exchange, the feudal lords found out an easy way to obtain more monetary resources by monopolizing the coins’ mint. As result, they used to ask a certain percent from the gold quantity that people wanted to transform in coins (call brassage)....

Most of the international commercial transactions consist of merchandise and capital flows. The fluidization of these flows implies special financing techniques or the use of some payment instruments adequate to the purpose: minimum risk, time and cost. The payment sources or instruments can...