Over time, banks and other firms have organized various types of clearinghouses to coordinate clearing and settlement activities in order to reduce costs and risks. The adoption of multilateral clearing in the United States was a key organizational innovation that began with the founding of the New York Clearing House in the 1850s.
Growth has increasingly been driven by domestic demand rather than net exports in the course of 1998. Private consumption, in particular, has been robust, supported by growth in employment. However, unemployment in the euro area remains very high (at 13.8 million) and is declining only gradually.