In large part, these changes and innovations are unequivocally good for society and have produced more efficient markets and, in turn, greater international trade and economic growth. BIS Review 104/1997  They have also, however, greatly increased the complexity of banking and bank supervision. In both cases, these developments have spurred the demand for highly trained and qualified personnel.
Within the United States, our banking system has also experienced a dramatic consolidation in the number of banking institutions, due not only to technology and financial innovation, but also to legislative changes allowing interstate banking. The number of independent commercial banking organizations has declined 40 percent since 1980 to 7,400 in June of this year.