The dramatic increase in securitisation activity has modified the functioning of credit markets by reducing the fundamental role of liquidity transformation performed by financial intermediaries. We claim that the changing role of banks from originate and holdʺ to originate, repackage and...

At present, Western European banks are increasingly branching out into asset management as well as the consulting business, which cannot be influenced directly by monetary controls. We have therefore conducted a factor analysis of banks' balance-sheet items, and we have also plotted figures from...

Over the last twenty years, the process of European integration, and improvements in the processing and transmission of information, have meant that the European financial system has become less bank-based and more market-based. This trend has been reinforced by the transition to a single...