The system of banco currency was instituted in the sixteenth century in Italy, when the banks sought relief from failure by application to the government for authority to reduce the weight of the Ducat, Zecchino, etc. The practice of a government to profit by the variation of weight and fineness of metal is of frequent occurrence.

The Mark Banco was a money of account introduced by the Bank of Hamburg which insisted on payments by its depositors of bars of fine silver, but liquidated its transactions with so-called Banco Thaler, i.e., with silver coins containing more or less alloy.

Frederick the Great issued a silver Banco Thaler in 1765 upon the institution of the Royal Bank. At the present day the terms Banco Thaler, Banco Daler, etc., are usually applied to paper money issued by a national government. The Shilling Banco was a copper coin introduced in Sweden in 1819 for Avesta and in 1832 for Stockholm. It was last struck in 1855.