* * * New technology and innovative businesses increasingly affect our daily financial lives. Mobile devices, high-speed data communication, and online commerce are creating expectations that convenient, secure, real-time payment and banking capabilities should be available whenever and wherever they are needed. At the same time, disruptive new technologies suggest that traditional financial service providers must innovate and adapt or be left behind.
Globalization of IF will magnify along with its growing acceptance as a viable alternative financing mechanism as it illustrates its capacity to co-exist and compete with conventional finance.