As a result, in an era of consolidation and innovation, banks could pursue merger partners and branching strategies on the basis of economics rather than geography while also consolidating and rationalizing their own legal structure. The boundaries between banking products and other financial service offerings have also become less clear.
In general, central banks will not be able to recognise bubbles in real time with a sufficient degree of confidence. This applies even more forcefully to the early stages of a bubble, when monetary policy should be most effective.