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金融学试题（含答案）题目：下列属于所有权凭证的金融工具是（）。
A: 股票B: 银行承兑票据C: 短期国债D: 公司债券答案：A题目：下列可能影响货币政策外部时滞的因素是（）。
A: 对宏观经济进行深入分析B: 国际金融危机的冲击或扰动C: 认识到采取措施的必要性D: 决定采取具体措施调控经济答案：B题目：下列各项中，（）不属于中央银行“银行的银行”职能。
A: 提供经济信息服务B: 充当最后贷款人C: 集中存款准备金D: 监管全国金融业答案：A题目：在回购协议交易中，（）是交易双方最关注的因素。
A: 回购期限B: 回购价格C: 回购利率D: 售出价格答案：C题目：贝币和谷帛属于我国货币历史上的（）。
A: 信用货币B: 纸币C: 实物货币D: 金属货币答案：C题目：中国人民银行公布的货币量指标中的货币增长率指标反映了（）的变化情况。
A: 货币存量B: 货币流量C: 货币增量D: 货币总量答案：C题目：目前人民币汇率实行的是( )。
A: 以市场供求为基础的、单一的、有管理的固定汇率制B: 以市场供求为基础的、参考一篮子货币进行调节、有管理的浮动汇率制C: 以市场供求为基础的、单一的钉住汇率制D: 以市场供求为基础的、单一的弹性汇率制答案：B题目：银行同业之间买卖外汇所形成的市场称为（）。
A: 自由市场B: 批发市场C: 零售市场D: 官方市场答案：B题目：汇率变化常给交易人带来损失或盈利，下列（）不属于汇率风险。
A: 进出口贸易中因汇率变动而引起损失B: 一国持有的外汇资产长期、大幅度贬值C: 对外举债由于汇率变动而引起损失D: 黑客入侵外汇交易系统导致损失答案：D题目：政府信用的主要形式是( )。
A: 发行政府债券B: 向商业银行短期借款C: 向商业银行长期借款D: 自愿捐助答案：A题目：( )是指在某一时点上各经济主体所持有的货币余额。
A: 货币存量B: 货币流量C: 货币增量D: 货币总量答案：A题目：中央银行区别于普通商业银行的最根本标志是（）。
《金融法教程》（第四版）作者：朱崇实、刘志云法律出版社第一章总论1.时至今日，以银行为核心的金融市场已经成为现代经济运转中最核心的领域。
2.货币是金融活动的基础，没有货币，就谈不上金融运行。
货币是金融活动的最初形式，有了货币才可能有金融活动。
3.金融的含义：广义：资金流通——货币在供给者和需求者之间流转；狭义：货币资金的融通，即与金融机构有关的各种形式的信用活动及在信用基础上组织起来的货币流通。
狭义金融又分为：直接融资：资金的最终需求者通过金融市场直接从资金的最终供给者获得所需资金，例如发行股票；间接融资：资金的最终需求者和最终供给者之间存在金融中介的资金融通，例如储户将资金存入银行，银行再贷款给企业或个人。
4.银行业是金融业中最重要、最核心的部分。
5.金融法就是调整货币流通和信用活动中所发生的金融关系的法律规范的总称。
6.金融法并不是独立的法律分支，而是一个由民商法规范、经济法规范、甚至还有一些行政法规范、刑法规范、国际法规范等构成的复杂组合。
7.金融法的调整对象包括：金融交易关系（金融机构与客户）金融监管关系（金融监管机构对金融机构）金融调控关系（央行）。
8.经济领域的社会关系可分为民间社会经济关系——平等主体间的经济关系→适用金融交易法；国家经济管理关系：国家进行干预、管理和组织→适用金融调控法、金融监管法。
9.国家干预经济过程中产生两种经济关系：宏观调控关系和市场规制关系，金融调控关系属于前者，金融监管关系属于后者。
10.金融调控与金融监管的关系：一方面，金融监管是金融调控的前提条件和基本保障，另一方面，金融调控的一些手段和工具如存款准备金等可为金融监管当局利用，便于开展金融监管工作。
11.维持币值稳定是各国货币政策共同的、最核心的目标。
12.金融调控着眼于金融总量，金融监管着眼于金融机构运行，前者属于国家宏观管理措施之一，作用于宏观经济领域；后者属于外部市场管理行为，实施或发生在微观经济领域。
对银行业会计准则的几点思考—关于商业银行会计标准问题的讨论请欣赏《对银行业会计准则的几点思考—关于商业银行会计标准问题的讨论》□赵代华银行业的开放程度和开放步骤，是我国加入ＷＴＯ谈判的重要内容。
随着加入ＷＴＯ的日益临近，作为国际通用商业语言的会计，银行业会计准则的研究、制订将对我国银行业会计信息的规范、发展及银行经营与国际接轨发挥重要的作用。
一、制订银行业会计准则的必要性及其在整个会计准则体系中的定位银行是一个重要的并具有影响力的经营部门。
银行的经营活动不同于其他类型的企业，因而，对银行业会计核算和报表的要求也不同，银行业会计准则是承认银行特珠需要的表现。
按照我国会计界对会计准则的研究，我国会计准则体系由基本会计准则和具体会计准则组成。
基本会计准则主要规定会计核算的基本原则和一般要求，包括企业核算的基本前提、一般原则、会计要素核算和会计报表编制的基本要求。
具体会计准则以基本准则为依据，对各项会计核算业务和报告事项作出具体规定。
参照国际会计准则的制订经验，我国具体会计准则可分为以下三类１通用会计准则。
即为各行业共同经济业务的核算准则，如应收、应付款，存货，投资，固定资产等。
２有关会计报表的准则。
如资产负债表等，主要用来规定会计报表应当及如何披露信息以及会计报表的基本格式等。
３有关特殊经济业务的准则。
所谓特殊业务是相对于通用业务而言，包括以下三个方面一是各行业共有的特殊业务，如外汇业务，清算业务等；二是特殊行业会计准则，如银行业、保险业等；三是特殊组织会计准则，如个人合伙企业等。
从以上对我国会计准则体系的分类来看，笔者认为银行业会计准则在我国会计准则体系中的具体定位是具体会计业务准则中的特殊行业会计准则。
银行一般会计业务要接受基本会计准则的指导和通用会计准则、报表会计准则、特殊业务会计准则的约束，至于银行业特有的业务，应该接受银行业会计准则的约束。
二、制订银行业会计准则的基本要求银行业会计准则既涉及会计理论和方法，又影响银行会计实务和操作。
是否应该废除大型商业银行辩论辩题正方，应该废除大型商业银行。
首先，大型商业银行在金融市场上的垄断地位已经严重影响了市场的竞争性和公平性。
根据马克思的经济学理论，垄断会导致价格的不合理上涨，消费者的利益受损。
而大型商业银行在金融市场上的垄断地位，使得它们能够操纵利率和资金流动，对小型金融机构和个体投资者造成不公平竞争。
这不仅损害了市场经济的公平性，也损害了消费者的利益。
其次，大型商业银行的存在也增加了金融市场的风险。
2008年的次贷危机就是一个典型案例。
大型商业银行过度追求利润，不顾风险，进行了大量的次级抵押贷款，最终导致金融市场的崩溃。
正如华尔街金融家乔治·索罗斯所说，“银行业的垄断和金融市场的过度风险是导致金融危机的根本原因。
”因此，废除大型商业银行有利于减少金融市场的风险，保护投资者的利益。
最后，废除大型商业银行也有利于促进金融市场的创新和发展。
大型商业银行的存在，使得金融市场上的资源配置不够灵活，创新能力受到限制。
而废除大型商业银行，可以鼓励更多的小型金融机构和创新型企业进入市场，推动金融市场的发展。
正如苹果公司的创始人史蒂夫·乔布斯曾说过，“创新是推动社会进步的动力。
”废除大型商业银行有利于释放金融市场的创新潜力，推动经济的持续发展。
综上所述，废除大型商业银行有利于恢复金融市场的公平性，减少金融市场的风险，促进金融市场的创新和发展。
因此，我们应该废除大型商业银行。
反方，不应该废除大型商业银行。
首先，大型商业银行在金融市场上的垄断地位并不是绝对的，市场上还存在着其他类型的金融机构，如投资银行、保险公司等。
这些机构的存在可以有效地制衡大型商业银行的权力，保护市场的竞争性和公平性。
因此，并不需要废除大型商业银行来保护市场的公平性。
其次，大型商业银行在金融市场上扮演着至关重要的角色。
它们为企业和个人提供了融资和储蓄服务，推动了经济的发展。
如果废除大型商业银行，可能会导致金融市场的混乱和不稳定，对经济造成负面影响。
银行从业就业前景随着金融业的快速发展，银行从业一直是许多人心中的就业选择之一。
银行行业作为国民经济的重要组成部分，其从业人员在金融服务、风险管理和经济发展等方面起着重要的作用。
因此，对银行从业的就业前景进行深入分析是非常必要的。
一、银行从业的发展趋势1.数字化转型：随着科技的进步和创新，银行业正经历着一场数字化转型的浪潮。
传统的银行业务正在逐步向线上转移，这意味着银行从业人员需要具备更多数字化技能和知识。
因此，掌握相关的技术和信息技术背景的从业者将更受青睐。
2.综合金融服务：随着银行业务范围的扩大，银行从业人员需要具备综合金融服务能力。
不仅要了解传统银行业务，还需要掌握证券、保险等相关金融知识。
银行从业者应努力提升自身专业素养，以适应金融市场的发展需求。
3.风险管理：作为金融机构的核心，银行业务存在着各种风险。
因此，银行从业人员需要具备出色的风险管理能力，能够及时应对风险挑战并有效控制风险。
掌握风险管理的从业者将在银行业中有更多的发展机会。
二、银行从业的就业优势1.稳定的就业环境：银行是国民经济的重要支柱之一，因此银行业在就业方面具有一定的稳定性。
相对于其他行业，银行从业具有较低的流动性和较稳定的薪酬待遇，这是吸引许多人选择银行从业的一个重要因素。
2.丰富的职业发展路径：银行作为一个庞大的机构，拥有多种职业发展路径。
从最基础的银行柜员到高级管理人员，银行从业人员有着广阔的职业空间可供选择。
个人可以根据自身能力和兴趣选择适合自己的职业路径，实现更好的职业发展。
3.丰厚的薪资待遇：银行作为金融行业的代表，在薪资待遇方面一直保持较高水平。
尤其是对于有丰富经验和专业知识的从业人员，银行业往往给予相应的薪资激励，这是吸引许多人选择银行从业的一个重要因素之一。
三、银行从业的发展挑战1.竞争激烈：银行从业人员的竞争压力相对较大。
由于银行从业的相对稳定性和吸引力，许多人选择进入银行业。
因此，银行从业者需要具备较高的综合素质和竞争力才能在激烈的竞争中脱颖而出。
第七章中央银行第一节中央银行概述一、中央银行产生的客观必然性1、银行券的发行问题从18世纪后半期到19世纪前半期，资本主义银行业得到了广泛建立。
最初，几乎每家银行都拥有银行券发行权，市场上流通的银行券五花八门。
如果每家银行都能保证自己发行的银行券能够随时兑现，也就不会出现什么问题。
但是，在银行业的激烈竞争中，总会有一些银行国经营不善而不能保证兑现，某些银行则有意设在遥远的地区，使人们难以向其兑现。
这些问题导致信用纠纷、银行破产甚至整个金融业的危机。
其他那些信用状况良好的银行虽能保证兑现，继续发行银行券，但受财力、信誉等方面的限制，只能在较小的范围内流通，很难扩大发行量。
因此客观上需要一个权威性的、资本雄厚的大银行，发行一种信誉好且能在全国范围内流通的货币。
2、票据交换和清算问题随着商品经济的发展，银行业务不断扩大，银行每天收付的票据数量日益增加，银行之间的债务债权关系越来越复杂，每天都有大量的资金需要清算，这要由各银行自行清算是非常困难的，客观上要求有一个统一的票据交换和债权债务的清算机构。
英国于1833年正式成立伦敦票据交换所，以后英格兰银行获得了最终清算银行的地位。
因此，建立全国统一的有权威的公正的清算中心是保证信用制度顺利发展的必然趋势。
3、最后贷款人问题随着资本主义经济的迅速发展，对银行贷款的需求量越来越大，借款的期限越来越长，但银行的资金来源受到数量和信誉的影响，远远不能满足资金运用。
另外，由于出现突发性的大量提现，一些银行会陷入因支付能力不足而倒闭的困境。
因此需要一个信用卓著的、实力强大的金融机构充当一般商业银行的最后支持者，一旦商业银行资金发生困难，可以给予必要的支持，以免在信用危机中破产，引发整个金融危机的发生。
4、金融监管的问题资本主义经济的发展一方面使银行业日益兴旺，另一方面也使银行之间的竞争日益激烈。
银行的破产和倒闭极易引起连锁反应，给整个经济带来危害，这就需要一个全国统一而又有权威的金融机构对金融业进行监管。
商业银行作业商业银行是指以盈利为目的，依法经营各类商业银行业务的金融机构。
商业银行在国家经济中扮演着重要的角色，既是经济的信用中枢，又是资金的重要来源与分配机构。
本文将以商业银行的定义、作用、组成部分以及其作业流程等方面入手，对商业银行作业进行探讨。
一、商业银行的定义和作用商业银行是一种专门从事存款、贷款、结算及其他金融服务的金融机构。
商业银行的主要作用包括资金的集中和供给、资金的再分配和配置、信用创造和支付手段等。
首先，商业银行通过接受存款，将各类资金集中起来，形成规模经济，提高利润空间，为国家经济发展提供坚实的金融支持。
其次，商业银行作为金融机构，通过贷款等业务向各个行业提供资金支持，实现资源再分配和优化配置，推动国民经济的发展。
此外，商业银行还具有信用创造的功能，通过放贷扩大信用规模，为社会提供良好的金融环境。
最后，商业银行作为支付手段的提供者，通过发行信用卡、借记卡等支付工具，方便人们的支付和结算需求。
二、商业银行的组成部分商业银行由营业网点、总行和分支机构组成。
营业网点是商业银行与客户直接接触的窗口，提供各类金融服务。
总行是商业银行的管理和决策中心，负责制定经营策略和管理政策。
分支机构则是商业银行在各个地区设立的具体经营单位，负责开展业务和服务客户。
商业银行的作业流程包括资金的募集、资金的放贷和信用管理、资金的结算以及风险控制等环节。
首先，商业银行通过各种渠道募集资金，包括吸收储蓄存款、发行金融债券、从其他金融机构融资等方式。
其次，商业银行通过贷款等业务将资金再分发给个人、企业等各类需求主体。
在放贷过程中，商业银行需要进行风险评估和信用管理，确保资金的安全和有效使用。
再者，商业银行还承担着资金的结算职责，保障资金的快速、安全的转移与使用。
最后，商业银行需要通过风险控制和监管机制，规范自身经营行为，保障金融体系的安全和稳定运行。
总之，商业银行作为金融体系中的关键机构，发挥着重要的作用。
通过资金的集中和供给、资源的再分配和优化、信用的创造和支付手段的提供，商业银行促进了国民经济的发展。
金融监管相关知识发表日期：2008-11-11 来源：中大网校 [ ] [网络课堂] [在线考试]第一，金融监管理论1， 金融监管概念：即金融监督管理，是指一国的金融管理部门依照国家法律、行政法规的规定，对金融机构及其经营活动实施外部监督、稽核、检查和对其违法违规行为进行处罚，以达到稳定货币、维护金融业正常秩序等目的所实施的一系列行为。
银行业监管必要性：银行提供的期限转换功能，银行是整个支付体系的重要组成部分，银行的信用创造和流动性创造功能。
这些特性使得维持银行业的稳定性成为必要。
2，金融监管的经济学理论基础：市场失灵理论和信息不对称理论（1）市场失灵理论：金融体系存在着负外部性；具有公共产品特征；金融机构是经营货币的特殊性企业，不能过分强调竞争从而影响稳定。
（2）信息不对称理论：银行与存款人、借款人之间的信息不对称导致银行体系存在严重的逆向选择和道德风险问题。
3， 金融监管的一般性理论（1）公共利益论：政府可以作为公共利益的代表来实施管制以克服市场缺陷（2）保护债权论：为了保护债权人利益，所以需要金融监管。
（3）金融风险控制论：银行的高负债经营、借短放长和部分准备金制度导致银行体系的不稳定性，而金融资产的可流通性又使得银行体系有着系统性风险和风险的传导性，所以金融业比其他行业更加脆弱，金融监管尤其重要。
（4）金融全球化对传统金融监管理论的挑战第二，金融监管体制1，概念：是指一国金融管理部门的构成及其分工的有关安排。
2，分类：（1）以银行为重心的监管体制和独立于中央银行的综合监管体制以中央银行为重心的监管体制：以中央银行为重心，其他机构参与分工。
美国是典型代表，虽然在联邦一级存在多个监管机构，但美联储是惟一一家能够同时监管银行、证券和保险业的联邦机构。
独立于中央银行的综合管理体制：在中央银行外，同时设立几个部门对银行、证券和保险金融机构进行监管，但中央银行在其中发挥独特作用。
德国是典型代表。
8BECK defined as an institution that acts as an intermediary on capital markets by matching supply and demand on these markets.He does not only provide market transparency but moreover acts as a middleman between lenders and borrowers.A bank is a spe-cialfinancial intermediary with a lot of cost-intensive local branches.Moreover,a bank provides a bundle of different services while most other intermediaries only concentrate on one or few specific business.For example,a bank provides credit tofirms and pri-vate customers,sells stocks and mutual funds and pays interest for saving deposits and distributes the money it receives from the central bank by providing its customers with cash.(These arguments are valid for the European Universalbankensystem,but partially also for the anglo-american Trennbankensystem.)As a consequence,the balance sheet of a bank consists of immediately withdrawable liabilities which are used as legal means of payment as well as of liabilities with a longer maturity.Moreover,a lot of these lia-bilities deposited by the customers are not assigned to a special purpose.To sum up,a bank bundles a lot offinancial products and services like consulting and is not as much specialized than otherfinancial intermediaries.The second section will give a short overview of developments in thefinancial sector driven by technical progress.The third section will examine the functions of financial intermediaries and how they will be affected by new information technologies. In the following section,some conclusions shall be drawn from these considerations. This may help to answer the question how the landscape forfinancial intermediaries will look like in the age of the Internet.2.Developments infinancial intermediationFor centuries,manyfinancial transactions required personal presence.This has changed with the rise of modern communication techniques.Nowadays a customer can do all hisfinancial business without entering a local branch of a bank.This can be demonstrated with online-banking:The customer does all his banking(business)at home via the Internet.The transfer of payments and the payment of bills can be done via the net and information about personalfinancial transactions as well as consultation aboutfinancial questions can also be given via the net.Moreover,innovations like smart cards or other electronic payment systems eliminate the need to visit a branch in order to get some cash.But the Internet will also change consulting activities:it may even reduce the need for personal presence in many cases.Manyfinancial intermediaries provide not only a lot of customer-relevant information via the net,but also recommendations on stocks and other investment opportunities.Moreover,techniques like video-conferencing or Web-TV by means of a so-called settop-box will enforce this development.The Internet will enable intermediaries to bundle the capacities of their consultants wherever they may be located.This means that a customer can consult many experts from without even leaving his home.The Internet will enable a customer to have a comprehensive personal financial management system without the need of a branch or personal contacts.Banks like Barclays have already implemented a system called RATE(remote access to ex-THE FUTURE OF FINANCIAL INTERMEDIATION IN THE AGE OF THE INTERNET9 perts):Customers can contact specialist staff at Barclays Stockbrokers in Glasgow for detailed advice.The experts can give comments and background information as well as predictions by using a video-conference-link within the screen(see[5]).These forms of banking without branches will not only appear in the home of customers but even in remaining branches.Afirst glimpse at the potential branch of the future can be caught at the Lisbon Branch of the Banco Portugues do Atlantica(BPA). Instead of human staff the customer is faced with a set of multimedia kiosks set into the walls,which not only distribute money,but offer a range of other functions(see[5]):a scanner reads the bill,deducts the money from the account of the customer,transfers the money to the account of the issuer and notifies the company that the bill is paid.The end of this development may be a virtual bank,where allfinancial business will be executed via the Internet without the need of any branches.Another important business are payment transactions:At the moment,the debit and credit business as well as cash payment is mostly done by banks and credit card companies.Because electronic transmissions are much cheaper,quicker and easier than conventional payment systems,it may be only a matter of time until traditional payment schemes will be replaced completely by electronic purses.But even classical intermedia-tion services of banks as the emission of stocks or industrial obligations may be replaced by direct emission of these securities by the enterprises themselves.Opposite to these developments,the rise of modern communication techniques may also enablefinancial intermediaries to improve the personal contact to their cus-tomers.In the future,the working place for a consultant in a bank may not be a branch or an office,but the home of the ptops and mobile phones may help him to bring his back-office to the home of the customer.This development is called“mobile consulting”(see[3]).This short overview shows that the rise of the Internet may change the business of financial intermediaries in many ways.The most striking point in these developments may be the fact thatfinancial intermediation in the age of the Internet may no longer require the existence of branches because much of this business will be done via the Internet.The word of a virtual bank has already spread(an overview can be found in [9,10]).This may have important implications on the competition infinancial intermedia-tion as later shall be shown.To get an idea howfinancial intermediaries may look like in the digital future,it will be necessary to examine the functions of afinancial interme-diary.With these functions in mind,it will be possible to ask how these functions will be affected by the growth of Internet-basedfinancial business.3.Functions offinancial intermediariesThe functions offinancial intermediaries can be divided into three categories(for an overview over theories offinancial intermediation see also[1]):10BECK •First,they help to deal with questions that arise due to the existence of informationproblems.•As a second function,they transform the nature of assets and provide their customers with liquidity.The latter function is mostly provided by banks.•As a third function,financial intermediaries distributefinancial products and infor-mation about these products.These functions shall now be explained in brief.The most important function offinancial intermediaries arises from the fact that a single lender may not be able to find out the best investment with the highest return and to estimate the solvency of the creditor.Afinancial intermediary solves both information problems by acting as an agent for the debtor and helping tofind the best investment.An intermediary helps also with the second information problem(see[9]):Most investments require larger amounts of money so that a large number of debtors willfinance one single project.A single lender may not be able to monitor the behavior of the creditor so that he may not be sure whether the creditor uses the loan in the best way so that he will be able to pay it back.The intermediary acts as agent for these borrowers by monitoring the lender.Thereby,he also acts as principal for the lender by supervising him.By solving these information problems for many lenders,intermediaries are realizing economies of scale.This argument shows that they are saving transaction costs to their customers and that they can providefinancial services much cheaper than a single investor due to the existence of economies of scale.By acting as an agent for the lender and principal for the borrower,financial intermediaries also provide a certain amount of control about lenders and borrowers,i.e.,they provide a certain level of quality of thefinancial products they distribute.This gives more security to their customers about their savings and loans and saves transaction costs by providing an appropriate definition and level of quality.The second function offinancial intermediaries is the transformation of the assets they acquire.They transform maturities,size and risks of these assets.For a single lender or borrower,it would be very time-consuming tofind an appropriate partner who wants to give a loan in the amount and time-horizon desired by him.Afinancial inter-mediary can transform the maturities and the size of savings or loans by pooling them.E.g.,he canfinance one large long-term loan by revolving many small short-term loans. Intermediaries support the matching of lenders and borrowers of all types by supplying a centralized market for them.The ability of intermediaries to match apparently incon-sistent types of contracts is sometimes called transmutation effect(see[8]).Moreover, a intermediary can also transform the risk of an asset.He guarantees the borrower a certain interest rate and gives his money as venture capital,thereby transforming a risky investment into a safe one.The difference between the interest rate the lender receives from the intermediary and the interest rate the intermediary demands from the venture capitalist is the risk premium.By pooling savings and loans,intermediaries provide the possibility for a single customer to trade the risk of a single loan or saving against a share of the risk of a portfolio of these savings and loans.With the help of the law ofTHE FUTURE OF FINANCIAL INTERMEDIATION IN THE AGE OF THE INTERNET11 large numbers,the possibility of a total loss for a single investor can be diminished by pooling large funds.As easily can be seen,the transformation of maturities and the transformation of risks requires a certain amount of deposits.This makes it clear that afinancial interme-diary needs a certain minimum size–measured in terms of deposits–to perform these functions well.This will be an important feature in the discussion of the future business fields forfinancial intermediaries.These funds are also necessary for another function offinancial intermediaries that is mostly done by banks:Banks provide their customers with liquidity.A consumer has to take measures against a sudden unexpected need of consumption.Without a bank,he would be forced to keep a certain amount of liquidity as an insurance against this case instead of investing it in long-term interest rate bearing assets.If he gives his money to a bank,it can be invested into such assets while it is still possible for the customer to get money in cases of unexpected needs of liquidity,thereby loosing only a smaller share of the return of these assets than in the case of keeping this money as an insurance against a sudden need of consumption.By transforming the ma-turities of its deposits,a bank allows its customers to keep a smaller amount of liquidity as it would be the case in a world without banks.The third function offinancial intermediaries can be described as the distribution of products and of information about these products.Financial intermediaries provide ser-vices for the producers offinancial products by distributing their products and informing consumers about the existence and the characteristics of their products.For example,a bank provides a consumer with information about the existence and the quality of invest-ment funds(but one should keep in mind that most banks inform mainly about their own investment funds,this is not the case for independentfinancial advisors).But intermedi-aries can also have some influence on the consumers purchasing behavior.This is also a value for the producer offinancial products.At least,afinancial intermediary may help the producer offinancial products to collect valuable information about his customers by aggregating demand information from a variety of local markets.By providing in-formation about the average conditions on the market,afinancial intermediary provides some market transparency.But intermediaries may not only provide information about the product,but also about the usefulness of the product and may help their customers to identify their needs reliably.The insurance business seems to be a good example for this.The distribution of products is a very important economic feature offinancial in-termediaries because it requires a widespread system of branches which is very capital-intensive.Banks can realize large economies of scale by distributing manyfinancial products via their branches.This means that the distribution offinancial services leads to a reduction in average costs(see[6]).This explains why banks supply several ser-vices:If a large net of branches once is set up,the banks gain the more economies of scale,the more products are distributed via these branches.These arguments show that only a limited number of banks with a broad regional system of branches can co-exist in a market,as long as the mostfinancial services are distributed via these branches.In other words:The need to keep an expensive system12BECK of branches is a high barrier to enter the market forfinancial intermediation.This may change due to the rise of new communication techniques.This shall be discussed in the next section.4.Functions offinancial intermediaries in a net-based world4.1.The need for reputation infinancial businessThe most important single feature of the Internet is the reduction of transaction costs.This will lead to enlarged markets and to an extended division of labor.The re-duction of communication costs will helpfinancial intermediaries to reach new markets and customers without building up an expensive network of branches.Moreover,with the help of the Internet,from a technical point of view it may be possible that a lender and a borrower meet in electronic platforms so that demand and supply of capital may be matched without the need of afinancial intermediary in the traditional sense.This would mean that a computer would be the only tool required to get a loan or to place a saving.Considering the functions offinancial intermediaries discussed above,this idea seems quite unrealistic.Not everybody can become afinancial intermediary.The most important reason whyfinancial intermediaries will still be necessary in the age of the Internet is their function as principals and agents.If a intermediary acts as an agent for the lender,a problem of asymmetric information rises.If a creditor gives money to a debtor,he faces two severe problems.First,he has only incomplete information about the ability of the debtor to pay back the loan.As a consequence of this, he will not be able to distinguish between“good”and“bad”loans(adverse selection). Moreover,a bad risk may be willing to pay a higher interest rate,because he might already have decided not to pay the loan back.Adverse selection generates a dilemma for the lender:He has to consider the trade-off between a higher interest rate he might get paid and the risk to loose the loan.If a lender is not able to distinguish between good and bad loans,he treats all borrowers equally,charging a risk-premium from every borrower.This means that the good must suffer with the bad.Banks handle this problem by putting in place a credit function,demanding a collateral or by limiting the volume of credit available to a single borrower(see[4]).This shows a strong argument for the further existence offinancial intermediaries in the age of the Internet.A creditor cannot observe the behavior of the debtor after he received the loan.A bad debtor may not attempt to use the borrowed capital in a pro-ductive way in order to pay back the loan.After he received the loan,he may change his behavior(moral hazard).This leaves the creditor with the problem to control the behav-ior of the borrower after he received the loan.For a single lender,the task offinding a trustworthy borrower and to monitor his behavior may be very expensive if not impos-sible.To avoid this,he gives his money to afinancial intermediary who acts as agent for him.The intermediary distinguishes between good and bad risks and supervises the debtor.This makes sense because the intermediary is an expert in identifying good risks and supervising debtors.The division of labor makes sense even in the businessTHE FUTURE OF FINANCIAL INTERMEDIATION IN THE AGE OF THE INTERNET13 offinancial intermediation.If there arefixed cost of monitoring borrowers,financial intermediaries will obtain economies of scale.This means that there is an advantage for financial intermediaries who specialize in this business.The existence of economies of scale rules out a world in which there are only bilateral relationships between lenders and borrowers.But how can the lender trust thefinancial intermediary?He may cooperate with the borrower to cheat the lender.This is a classical principal-agent-problem caused by the existence of asymmetric information.One way to overcome this problem is trust (see[11]):If the agent has shown a good performance in the past,the principal(the investor)is willing to trust this agent.A good reputation of afinancial intermediary will help him to attract new customers,because new investors are convinced by his good results in the past.These considerations show that an important function offinancial intermediaries cannot be replaced by the Internet:The intermediary acts as an agent for the customer;and a customer will not give his money to afinancial intermediary without a good reputation.If a intermediary has shown in the past that he is reliable and does not cheat his customers,a customer may consider him as reliable for future business.Moreover,a long term relationship between the lender and the borrower is very helpful because there is already some trust between the lender and the borrower established(see[4]).A customer would never choose a partner as an agent for his money he never heard of before,because he could not be sure whether he would cheat him.The intermediary himself faces the problem of moral hazard and adverse selection when he is investing the money of his customers.This means he acts as agent for the lenders and as principal for the debtors.Choosing an intermediary makes only sense for the creditor if the intermediary has a good reputation.If the intermediary wants to stay in business,he will be aware to pay back the loan in time plus an adequate interest rate.If he will not be able to do this,he will loose his business.His reputation is a signal to potential lenders that he will pay back the money he received.To sum up,afinancial intermediary with a reputation as a good debtor reduces the risk for the creditor that a loan may not be paid back.Therefore, the idea offinancial business withoutfinancial intermediaries is not realistic at all.4.2.The need for large fundsWhat about the second function of intermediaries?As explained above,afinan-cial intermediary helps to transform assets in their maturity,size and risk.At afirst glimpse,the Internet will make it easier to transform assets because of the reduced costs of communication between potential borrowers and lenders.It will be easier tofind an adequate partner or partners via the Internet looking for a loan that has the size and ma-turity the lender is willing to supply.Insofar,the matching of assets in maturity and size may become easier in the age of the Internet.One important function of intermediaries explained in the section above,the supply of an centralized market to ease the matching of supply and demand on capital,seems to be endangered.The need to transform as-14BECK sets may be reduced due to the fact that it will become much easier tofind an adequate partner.This is not true for the transformation of the risk of assets.By pooling large funds,financial intermediaries reduce the risk of an investment to the investor.If a lender gives a loan to a single person and the borrower fails to pay back the loan,the lender will loose all his money.If a lender fails to pay back a loan to afinancial intermediary, this intermediary will not become insolvent,because this loan represents only a small fraction of his funds.From this point of view it makes sense to an investor to invest his money not in a single project or give it to a single borrower.If he puts his money in a fund,he trades the risk of a single project against the share of a risk of a portfolio of investments.These considerations show that it requires much more than a computer to providefinancial services–even in the age of the Internet.Afinancial intermediary needs a large fund of savings,loans and investments to reduce the risk for the single customer.By giving their customers products with stable distributions of cash-flows,financial intermediaries can reduce the costs of an investment for their customers(see [1]).This shows that not everybody will be able to become afinancial intermediary.The function offinancial intermediaries as risk-pooling institutions will be very important in market segments with illiquid assets or long-term maturities.In these segments,the risk and the standard deviation of the returns on investment are very high.It requires a high risk premium and a large pool of funds to compensate for this risk.As shown above,to do this afinancial intermediary needs a large pool of funds. This pool of funds is also needed to guarantee his customers a certain amount of liq-uidity.The necessity of keeping a certain amount of assets is surely a barrier for new entrants to enter the market forfinancial services.With these considerations in mind, one can assume that with a greater risk of afinancial transaction–that requires a larger pool of funds to reduce this risk–or lesser standardization of an asset(which means a more illiquid market for this asset)the entry of new competitors may become less likely because not every intermediary may be able to keep a large fund of assets in or-der to transform the risk of its consumers assets and to guarantee them liquidity.One important function offinancial intermediaries,the transformation of risks,will not be endangered by the rise of the Internet.This seems to be a very important argument, because the importance of risk management undertaken byfinancial intermediaries has grown rapidly in recent years(see[1]).4.3.The distribution offinancial productsBut the Internet may overcome the third function offinancial intermediaries:The distribution offinancial products and information may become much easier and cheaper than it is now.This means that the cost-intensive branches of the banks may become ob-solete:The development in electronic cash,online-banking and online-consulting may help to make this form of intermediation redundant.This means that an important barrier to enter the market forfinancial intermediation may vanish.Every customer can informTHE FUTURE OF FINANCIAL INTERMEDIATION IN THE AGE OF THE INTERNET15 himself easily and cheaply about conditions and products and do his banking business directly from home.But it is not quite clear whether the distribution function of banks may really be-come obsolete.This may only be true for the physical distribution of products and information via branches.First,it is not quite clear whether an Internet-based market place forfinancial services will provide more or less market transparency.The idea of an“information overflow”in the Internet(see[2])suggests that intermediaries as a kind of information brokers may still be necessary with the Internet.And again,reputation may be an important feature even in the age of the Internet:If a customer needs con-sulting because he is not able to handle all information available,he may consult the information broker with the highest reputation.Why should he trust an unknownfinan-cial advisor?This argument may become more important for less standardizedfinancial products because it is much more difficult to compare them.These considerations show that the physical distribution offinancial products may not be the only key feature offi-nancial intermediaries.Much more,they are serving lenders and borrowers by providing know-how of the relevantfinancial market,doing the marketing forfinancial products and guaranteeing the quality of these products.This argumentfits with the observation that the increase in the breadth and depth offinancial markets in recent years has been the result of increased use of newfinancial instruments byfinancial intermediaries andfirms,but not the result of an increased use by households(see[1]).In others words:the increasing complexity offinancial markets and products may even lead to a greater extent of intermediation withfinancial inter-mediaries servicing as agents for households.As we will see later,this argument is not valid for allfinancial products.There could be another advantage forfinancial intermediaries:With the help of the Internet,they can expand the amount of customers and products supplied without larger costs,using the knowledge and reputation already acquired.Indeed,the reduction of transaction cost via the Internet may help intermediaries to expand their business to new markets.But this may also partially help to overcome the problem of trust in the relation-ship between a lender and afinancial intermediary(see[11])and reduce the importance of reputation in some business segments:By reducing the costs of communication and distribution offinancial products,the division of labor can be extended because the ex-tent of the division of labor is limited by the extent of the market.If there is due to this a large market forfinancial products,the lender is able to compare the performance offinancial intermediaries.Thereby,the possibilities of afinancial intermediary to pay the lender an interest rate below the market level are reduced in an enlarged market for financial services.The problem of moral hazard may become less relevant for those products,especially if the maturity of the product is short.And the more standardized a financial product is,the more relevant is this argument,because it is easier to compare standardized products in an enlarged market than sophisticated products.This would mean that the necessity of reputation in the distribution offinancial products becomes less relevant the more standardized afinancial product is and the less consultation about this product is required.16BECK Financial intermediaries of the future may act as well without a broad systems of branches.This will reduce the barriers to entry to the market forfinancial intermediation. But the need for reputation and the requirement of large funds which makes it easier to transform maturities and to pool risks may be a barrier to enter this market,too.This will have consequences on the future market forfinancial institutions.In the next section, some ideas about this market shall be developed.5.The future offinancial intermediariesWith the functions offinancial intermediaries in mind,some considerations can be made about the future offinancial intermediaries.First,it is not clear whether the rise of the Internet will lead to more or less intermediation infinancial services.Problems like moral hazard and asymmetric information will not totally be eliminated by the In-ternet,so thatfinancial intermediation will still be necessary.Moreover,the extension of the market which will be made possible by the Internet will give more opportunities for specialization,thereby creating new business opportunities forfinancial intermedi-aries.The enlargement of the market and the reduction of transaction costs will also enlarge the amount of labor division,thereby creating more business opportunities for intermediaries.But this is a danger for banks:Because of the arguments listed above and the reduced necessity of a system of branches,new competitors may be able to enter the market and to offer some of the products or services which had been offered before only by banks.The arguments above show thatfinancial intermediaries will still be necessary, but with the reduced need for a net of local branches,there seems to be no argument why the supply offinancial services should be bundled like it is at the moment done by banks.This means that an important advantage of banks,their net of branches becomes irrelevant for competition in the age of the Internet.The economies of scale obtained by running a large net of branches are becoming less relevant.New intermediaries will enter the market and supply single products and services which have been supplied until now mostly by banks,which bundled these services and products.One can also ask which products are supposed to be exposed to more competition. More competition infinancial services in general may arise in those market segments where the functions offinancial intermediaries as explained above are less important. As shown above,only some functions offinancial intermediaries may be threatened by the rise of the Internet:First,the distribution of products and information can be done via the Internet instead via cost-intensive branches.Second,matching supply and demand may become easier with the help of the Internet,so that the transformation of size and maturities of assets may become less necessary.Two features offinancial products may be important if one wants to answer the question of future competition infinancial products:The degree of standardization of a financial product and its risk.The degree of standardization of a product determines the need for quality evaluation and reduces the need to get information about the product and the customer.If a customer wants to buy a standardizedfinancial product,he can。
