Now, as then, broker-dealers intermediate financial transactions primarily to serve their clients’ needs, and, for this reason, they are required to register with FINRA. Conversely, the hallmark of proprietary trading firm activity was and still is high-frequency proprietary trading.
One good example case was that of South Korea during the recent crisis, when we benefited greatly from currency swaps between the Bank of Korea and the Federal Reserve, the People’s Bank of China and the Bank of Japan. Those swap arrangements had some shortcomings, however, such as their ad hoc natures and the high selectivity of the counterparties involved.