List of oldest banks in continuous operation
Depending on the definition, the world's oldest bank is either Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena or Berenberg Bank. Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena was founded in its present form in 1624, but traces its history to a mount of piety founded in 1472. The Berenberg company was founded in 1590 and has operated continuously ever since with the same family as owners or major co-owners. Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena is today a large Italian retail bank, while Berenberg Bank is primarily involved in investment banking and private banking for wealthy customers; in any event Berenberg Bank is the world's oldest merchant bank or investment bank. The world's oldest central bank is the Sveriges Riksbank, which was founded in 1668.
Cosmos Bank
The Cosmos Co-operative Bank Ltd. (Cosmos Bank), established in 1906, is one of the oldest Urban Co-operative Banks in India. Cosmos Bank celebrated its centenary on 18 January 2006. It is one of the first co-operative banks in the country to implement Core Banking System (CBS) across the entire network of its then 140 service outlets using Finacle-Infosys Core Banking Software. It also received an authorized dealer (AD) license from the Reserve Bank of India to become the third co-operative bank in India to have such a license in thirty years.