It is now a commonplace that barriers between countries and financial markets, at least in developed countries, have largely disappeared, and this fact, together with new technologies, new financial instruments and new funding techniques, means that financial intermediation is increasingly global.
Fundamental to this trend has been the way in which advances in computer and communications technology have reduced the costs of cross-border transactions by lowering the costs of collecting and analysing data, undertaking transactions, clearing and settling payments and monitoring financial flows. And the cost reductions have been very dramatic.