Christian finance

Christian finance is a kind of ethical finance following Christian ethics. Although not widely used,^[1] the notion of "Christian finance" or "Catholic finance" refers to banking and financial activities which came into existence several centuries ago^{[citation needed]}. Whether the activities of the Knights Templar (12th century), Mounts of Piety (appeared in 1462) or the Apostolic Chamber attached directly to the Vatican, a number of operations of a banking nature (money loan, guarantee) or a financial nature (issuance of securities, investments) were practiced, despite the prohibition of usury and the Church distrust against exchange activities (opposed to production activities).^[2] Christian finance is characterized by the existence of three dimensions: personal (actors), operational (operations), and dogmatic (principles).