On the one hand, higher relative productivity, resulting in higher profits and wages, and the necessity to service ever increasing global savings are fundamental reasons why the financial industry has gradually expanded.
These are structural issues, and they will hardly go away in the future – it is conceivable that emerging market economies will keep exhibiting high savings rates, and thus large and efficient financial markets will be  1  Robinson, J. “The Generalization of the General Theory.” The rate of interest and other essays. London: Macmillan, 1952, 67–142.