 There's no confusing institutions with similar names, such as Bank of America and American Bank. Routing numbers date all the way back to 1910. The Bankers Association came up with them to help make check processing easier and safer. The numbers became part of electronic check cashing when that came along in the 1960s. The Bankers Trade Group says routing numbers have helped make check clearing almost instantaneous for today's consumers. I'm Greg McBride.