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The Various Theories Of Banking And Financial Intermediation

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“What’s special about banks?” Benston (2004) raised this question while offering six bank functions that render it ‘special’. Raising this question again today at a point in time where the banking system has been through a major crisis and a number of non-bank financial institutions have emerged to take up bank-like roles, this question may be aptly expanded and reframed in the following way: Is the role played by banks any different as compared to other non-bank financial institutions? Is there still any role which is specific to the way banks operate and cannot be replicated by these other institutions? Is it possible in the near future that banks will become obsolete and will completely be taken over by other non-bank institutions? This essay is an attempt at answering these questions in context of the various theories of banking and financial intermediation that have been put forth in the past. A review of the heterogeneous literature on this question will make it clear that it is an ongoing debate without any settled robust conclusion.

In order to evaluate the specialness of banks, it is important to look at the evolution of banks over the period of time and how there has been a shift in the structure of the industry with the entry of non-bank financial institutions. Discussed in depth will be the various conflicting theories of banking behaviour that have been presented in the past, to arrive at the conclusion that attributing ‘specialness’ to banks is contingent

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