Retail banking has been most impacted by technology, thanks to the proliferation of alternate channels of delivery (ATMs, internet and telephone banking). The pace with which consumers in the developing countries have also adopted digital technologies has been quite amazing.
Where central banks position themselves along these dimensions is clearly path-dependent but it depends, among other things, on institutions and financial structures. A comparison between the pre-crisis frameworks of the Federal Reserve and the ECB illustrates the different possible constellations.