A final area to mention in briefly rounding up the pre-crisis environment is the growth of the wealth management sector. Funds under management (principally in superannuation and life offices) expanded from around 30 to around 130 per cent of GDP between 1985 and 2007, broadly matching the growth rate seen in the deposit and loan sector.
And, of course, there has been a huge growth in services related to asset and risk management, including securities and derivatives trading. Many of these developments had their counterparts in overseas financial systems, which is not surprising because the same sorts of forces were at work.