The Bank of the Republic is the central bank of Colombia. It was initially established under the regeneration era in 1880. Its main modern functions, under the new Colombian constitution were detailed by Congress in 1992. [3] One of them is the issuance of the Colombian currency, the peso. The bank is also active in promoting financial inclusion policy and is a leading member of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion.
History
There are at least three predecessors to the current bank. The first one was created in 1880, named the Banco Nacional, and its functions included handling the state funds, issuing currency and making loans to the state. In 1894 the Congress closed the bank due to registered excesses in the issuance of currency and bonds. In 1905 the president Rafael Reyes created the Banco Central de Colombia but it was closed in 1910 by Reyes opponents.
In 1923, after several years of financial crisis, President Pedro Nel Ospina requested an expert committee to study Colombian economic conditions. This committee, led by American economist Edwin Walter Kemmerer (referred to in an expression of the time as a money doctor) was called the Mission Kemmerer. Kemmerer had already worked with Latin American governments: that of