One of the advantages of these new market places is that they may be accessed by a very wide range of users because they take advantage of an existing communication network infrastructure, the internet. Furthermore, the new internet market places also seem to be characterised by a high degree of automation of trading processes.
These factors would seem to make it possible to achieve lower transaction costs and, more generally, contribute to further improving the working of financial markets. 3  BIS Review 17/2000