Over the years, many central bank decisions have been influenced by the work of Columbia researchers, and many people would argue that the very existence of the European Central Bank and the Eurosystem owes a great deal to the findings of Columbia economist Robert Mundell.
To ensure increased banking penetration and control over operations of BCs, banks have been advised to establish low cost branches in the form of intermediate brick and mortar structures in rural centres between the present base branch and BC locations, so as to provide support to a cluster of BCs (about 8–10 BCs) at a reasonable distance of about 3–4 kilometers.