First, this article analyses the impact of the Regeneration (1880-1899) on the monetary and banking system in Colombia, since economic policy decisions referred not only to technical matters, but also formed part of the different notions of nationhood itself which each political faction defended; and this further aggravated divisions which were already to be seen between the political centre (Bogotá), and other regions of the country, and which ended up by causing the Thousand Day War (1899-1902). Second, it studies the difficult process of economic recovery and monetary reorganisation at the beginning of the 20th century. The profound economic crisis and the consequences of the war made reorganisation programmes undertaken by one or another government even more complex, until the final consolidation of the banking and finance system was achieved in 1923, in which Banco de la República was the cornerstone. In methodological terms, the text approaches monetary policy from the standpoint of economic history, and uses primary sources, the press, and an analysis of secondary bibliography.