Although it is too early to assess the implications of the recent changes in financing patterns I have been describing, these developments bear watching. A second set of issues pertains to systemic risk. In particular, the large trading houses, together with the physical trading operations of some large investment banks, are playing an increasingly prominent role in a number of commodity markets.
This raises the possibility that some of these institutions are becoming systemically important. Just as the 2008 financial crisis revealed the need to assess the systemic importance of institutions that play a central role in particular financial markets, we should be asking the same questions about institutions that are interconnected with various commodity markets.