Suggestions that securitisation and off-balance sheet activity rendered the analysis of bank balance sheet meaningless have now been revealed as absurd. Attempts to shift activity off-balance sheet proved to be a chimera, as the financial turmoil forced re-intermediation of loans and credit risk onto the MFI balance sheet.
The Federal Reserve is striving to foster the competitive environment for those retail payment services in which it plays an operational role as well as those services in which it does not. For those services in which the Reserve Banks have an operational role, they strive to provide them in a cost-effective, highquality manner and take advantage of technological advances.