Many non-banks are now operating in the financial system, and they too can pose a risk to financial stability. Next to the banking sector is the shadow banking sector, defined by the ESRB as the sector comprising all assets which are not held by banks, insurance companies or central counter parties. And it is big.
In 2016, the latest date for which data are available at the global level, they represented a little less than half of the total assets of the financial sector.8 Non-bank credit intermediation was around one third of total bank assets.