As regards the first dimension, the innovations in products, derivatives stand out the most and are indeed at the epicentre of the crisis. The hedging strategies that are now commonplace would not have been possible without the advances in derivatives and ICT.
On the lenders side, one of the more important effects of technological innovation on financial services is the abundance if not overabundance of real-time information. Since the costs of obtaining information have gone down dramatically with the advent of ICT, so have the costs of being in a particular market.