The task of intermediating between investors and borrowers has shifted over time from banks, which take deposits and make loans, to securities markets, where borrowers and savers meet more directly, albeit with the assistance of investment banks that help borrowers issue securities and then make  1  The views expressed here are my own and not necessarily those of my colleagues on the Board of Governors or the Federal Open Market Committee.
William Nelson of the Board’s staff contributed to these remarks. BIS Review 36/2010  1  markets in those securities. An aspect of the shift has been the growth of securitization, in which loans that might have been on the books of banks are converted into securities and sold in markets.