Banks are important conduits for monetary policy transmission and play an important role in the payment and settlement systems. The recent technological advancements in the banking sector through ATMs, debit cards, credit cards and electronic transactions further made the transfer of money across the financial system easy and convenient for the public.
During the crisis, in some jurisdictions, banks were clearly loath to approach the central bank because of concerns about stigma. That is, the call on the central bank's liquidity facility, in and of itself, would exacerbate the stresses the institution was facing. In Australia, this has been much less of an issue.