Financial institutions are cornerstones in the financial market. They provide five fundamental services that are needed to create efficiency within the market. The services are denomination divisibility which means producing financial claims of varying dollar amounts, currency transformation which is buying financial claims denominated in one currency and selling financial claims denominated in another, maturity flexibility which is creating financial claims with a wide range of maturities, credit risk diversification which is diversifying risk more efficiently than individual lenders might be able to on their own and liquidity which is buying direct financial claims with low liquidity and issuing indirect financial... [more]





