The second half of the nineteenth century saw the advent of modern finance. This is when the first joint-stock banks, financed by deposits rather than equity alone, opened their vast and sumptuous offices in London, Paris, New York, and other financial centers (chapter 3). This is when the first true international market for capital, backed by the most stable fixed-exchange-rate system ever to exist – the gold standard – emerged (chapter 4). This is when corporate stock markets opened their doors to the masses of individual investors (chapter 5), and when financial sectors across the industrializing world began to feel the need for product specialization (chapter 6). Except for automated tellers and internet connections, what we know of the financial sector today was already in place by the beginning of the twentieth century.