Even if it would be premature at this stage to try to elaborate further on how to maximize the positive effects of this major innovation, no doubt the new international monetary equilibrium will have to be kept under review as a key element of the new architecture. From the outset, effective means of coordination will have to be found to avoid excessive misalignments and disruptive corrections. The world is fully justified in expecting a responsible leadership from these major currencies blocs, which should be actively mindful of their global responsibility and resist the temptation of “benign neglect”. Each of them. Lastly, at a time when de facto more and more responsibilities are being given to the international financial institutions, and particularly to the IMF, the question of their political accountability will probably be raised with increasing insistence. Indeed, this question already arises from time to time, although not always with full awareness of the nature of our institutions and of the powerful checks and balances already enshrined in their Articles of Agreement. In this context, and as far as the IMF is concerned, is there anything that could be done to strengthen what one might call the political accountability or legitimacy of our institutions? At this stage, this would require at least a few organizational changes, which would make more explicit the tie that binds us to the governments we depend on.
However, the actual effect of the structural change towards more market-based financial transactions could be larger than the share of external financing from the market would suggest. The existence of market-based financing through increasing competition within the banking sector may have affected the terms and conditions of bank lending in the sense that banks are now more clearly no longer the only potential supplier of external funding for all but the smallest firms. In other words, the contestability of external financing may have increased, with potential competition from market-based financing limiting the scope for banks to profit from lending relationships. It could be added that banks have been encouraged to take part in the process of securitisation by undertaking investment banking activities such as underwriting, which uses their capacities for collecting information as well as private information based on existing credit relations. This also tends to boost the share of non-interest income in the total revenues of banks. The changes in the structure of the financial system and the role of banks are also illustrated by the emergence of new types of players in the financial system. Most apparent is the rise of institutional investors who are gaining a more important role in allocating savings from the household sector to the corporate sector, both domestically and across borders.