S/F/10. Financial Intermediaries

This paper aims to analyse how financial intermediaries transform the nature of financial assets. To fully examine the question, a number of areas need to be explored. The initial part of the paper will focus on a number of aspects: Firstly, a brief consideration will be given to important scholarly thought adopted within financial intermediation theory. A definition of financial intermediaries will also be provided, as will an explanation of the financial intermediation process. Secondly, this piece will identify the different types of financial intermediaries that exist, and the characteristics that differentiate them from each other. The main focus of the article will be the roles that financial intermediaries fulfil, whilst the crux of the analysis will determine how financial intermediaries transform the nature of financial assets.