Instead, deposit money will end up in accounts held by the e-money platforms, which will become banks’ major depositors. Such large depositors may behave differently from numerous small depositors in the aggregate. Banks are also facing competition in credit intermediation. Banks have never enjoyed a monopoly in this area. Large companies can obtain credit in the bond market.10 Finance companies offer leasing to firms, and car loans and consumer credit to retail customers, often linked to a credit card.11 Here, too, the landscape is changing. Web-based solutions, greater access to information and machine learning make it possible to perform standardised credit checks quickly and efficiently, which opens up new channels for credit intermediation. Chart: Crowdfunding Some of these channels can best be described as complementary to traditional forms of financing. This pertains above all to digital platforms that channel credit from savers to borrowers, also called crowdfunding. Many of these crowdfunding platforms provide loans to small and medium-sized enterprises, which are not especially attractive to traditional financial 3/7  BIS central bankers' speeches  institutions, often because the loans are small. In the US and the UK, crowdfunding platforms represent a growing market. Their scale is also increasing in Norway, though for now, credit volumes are marginal. A trend that is becoming increasingly evident is bundling financial services with other products. Some companies combine payment solutions with securities and cryptocurrency trading. An example of this is Robinhood in the US. Others combine proprietary payment solutions with access to credit for online purchases of goods and services.
Ida Wolden Bache: FinTech, BigTech and cryptos – will new technology render banks obsolete? Speech by Ms Ida Wolden Bache, Deputy Governor of Norges Bank (Central Bank of Norway), Oslo, 11 May 2021. * * * Accompanying charts of the speech. Introduction “No state can endure without a well functioning monetary system.” The quote comes from the Constitutional Assembly at Eidsvoll in 1814.1 At that time, it was imperative to restore the monetary system and establish our own national currency. Two years later, Norway saw the birth of its first bank – Norges Bank. For many years, it was the country’s only bank. Today, more than 200 years later, Norges Bank is the bankers’ bank and forms the core of a network of small and large banks spread throughout the country. But the number of physical premises is steadily declining, and our national currency – the krone – is predominantly a number on a screen rather than a physical handheld object. And if things develop as some might believe, tomorrow’s financial system will not be made up of banks, central banks and national currencies – but of electronic signals that transfer cryptocurrencies – from one digital wallet to another. To quote a well know Norwegian businessman: “The direction is clear: finance will be disrupted as surely as fossil fuels will be. The question is not if, but when. "2 I think there is little chance that cryptocurrencies will make banks and Norwegian kroner obsolete anytime soon, but the financial system will change.