More important, banks’ overall exposure would also include the non-funded exposures through credit substitutes and derivatives transactions which have grown significantly over the last few years. The continuing close linkage between the balance sheet of banks and of the corporate sector is, thus, clearly evident but only the nature of bank-corporate interaction is getting diverse and wider.
The systematic collection and standardization of information on these institutions' customers, transactions, and markets holds promise for increasing understanding of the institutions' impact on the communities and populations they serve. Other information collection systems have been launched within the community development field in an attempt to assess organizations' effectiveness in fulfilling their expressed mission.