The role of bank is to “intermediate” between players who are in financial deficit and those experiencing a surplus in order to match their need and invest. Players who are in financial deficit seek monetary resources by placing “liabilities” on the market and by offering them to those in surplus. The problem is therefore to reconcile the preferences expressed by buyers as compared with those made by the issuers of liabilities in terms of maturity, yield, value fluctuation, etc. .
Operators in surplus have difficulties in identifying and evaluating the quality of those in deficit, and they must take into account the uncertainty associated with future events, their degree of risk aversion and the preference of short term assets. On the other hand, those in deficit prefer to issue long term liabilities, to not disclose their quality of credit and, once the funds are obtained, they prefer to opt for more profitable but risky projects.
As a matter of fact, a direct transfer of resources from subjects in surplus to subjects in deficit is rare.
Consequently, the foundations are laid for the presence of a third party, who is able to match the different needs and to interact by transferring and finally reallocating financial resources within the economic system. Ultimately, financial intermediaries realise the channeling of savings into investments. The existence and role of financial intermediaries is explained by the traditional theory that has developed a number of reasons to justify the development of this phenomenon. Among these, we can find the function of evaluating and selecting business projects within the theoretical paradigm of incomplete markets and imperfect information. This theory emphases the activities of banks by recognizing their critical role when it comes to the ability of solving the problems of asymmetric information that are relevant to an imperfect market - adverse selection and moral hazard. Thanks to the role played by financial intermediaries, such problems may be partly solved or at least transferred to the same financial intermediaries who have the means to bear any adverse effects, thus avoiding their transfer onto a single or a small number of savers.
In brief, adverse selection concerns the difficulty to select and distinguish healthy companies, those with a high credit rating, from those that are riskier. Adverse selection in the field of banking intermediaries is an issue concerning an ex-ante situation to the provision of funding. This problem surfaces in a context where many companies seek to draw from finance resources at the disposal of a given bank. Screening can be regarded as a technique to solve this problem, which the bank can implement through the employment of professionals and the use of skilled and expensive methods, unlike what a single economic agent can usually do, given the high costs and the limited resources he/she may dispose of.
The
role
of
bank
is to “intermediate” between players
who
are in
financial
deficit
and those experiencing a
surplus
in order to match their need and invest. Players
who
are in
financial
deficit
seek monetary resources by placing “liabilities” on the market and by offering them to those in
surplus
. The
problem
is
therefore
to reconcile the preferences expressed by buyers as compared with those made by the issuers of liabilities in terms of maturity, yield, value fluctuation, etc.
.
Operators in
surplus
have difficulties in identifying and evaluating the quality of those in
deficit
, and they
must
take into account the uncertainty associated with future
events
, their degree of
risk
aversion and the preference of short term assets.
On the other hand
, those in
deficit
prefer to issue long term liabilities, to not disclose their quality of credit and, once the funds
are obtained
, they prefer to opt for more profitable
but
risky projects.
As a matter of fact, a direct transfer of resources from subjects in
surplus
to subjects in
deficit
is rare.
Consequently
, the foundations
are laid
for the presence of a third party,
who
is able to match the
different
needs and to interact by transferring and
finally
reallocating
financial
resources within the economic system.
Ultimately
,
financial
intermediaries
realise
the channeling of savings into investments. The existence and
role
of
financial
intermediaries
is
explained
by the traditional theory that has developed a number of reasons to justify the development of this phenomenon. Among these, we can find the function of evaluating and selecting business projects within the theoretical paradigm of incomplete markets and imperfect information. This theory emphases the activities of
banks
by recognizing their critical
role
when it
comes
to the ability of solving the
problems
of asymmetric information that are relevant to an imperfect market
-
adverse
selection and moral hazard. Thanks to the
role
played by
financial
intermediaries
, such
problems
may be partly solved or at least transferred to the same
financial
intermediaries
who
have the means to bear any
adverse
effects,
thus
avoiding their transfer onto a single or a
small
number of savers.
In brief
,
adverse
selection concerns the difficulty to select and distinguish healthy
companies
, those with a high credit rating, from those that are riskier.
Adverse
selection in the field of banking
intermediaries
is an issue concerning an ex-ante situation to the provision of funding. This
problem
surfaces in a context where
many
companies
seek to draw from finance resources at the disposal of a
given
bank
. Screening can
be regarded
as a technique to solve this
problem
, which the
bank
can implement through the employment of professionals and the
use
of skilled and expensive methods, unlike what a single economic agent can
usually
do,
given
the high costs and the limited resources he/she may dispose of.