International Banking 

This concept seems to have been invented by the Knights Templar.

A pilgrim to the Holy Land could deposit money with the Knights Templar in say France, be issued something we might now call a deposit ticket, then use that ticket to receive cash in the Holy Land from the Knights Templar.

This enabled people to travel without the danger of having their money taken from them by highwaymen or pirates.

The information on the ticket was probably encoded where issued and decoded where it was redeemed.

Of course the Knights Templar charged a fee for this safe moving of money.