The Major Risks of Financial Intermediaries

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The Major Risks of Financial Intermediaries

A financial intermediary is an establishment or an institution which

acts as a third party between investors and firms in trying to obtain

funding. A general explanation would be the instance of a saver who

has extra money and a borrower who needs this extra capital. A typical

example of a financial intermediary is a bank, but there are more such

as life insurance companies and building societies. This essay will

assess the risks which financial intermediaries face and how they

manage them.

It is important to note that financial intermediaries do not use their

own money instead they use the money of its depositors. To give a

simple example of how a bank would act as a financial intermediary.

Banks receive funds for depositors and while they keep a percentage in

of this cash in reserve in case they want it back they lend a large

percentage of it out or purchase bonds.

Financial intermediaries generally provide four important services.

The first one is expert advice; they can provide the best information

for investing customer funds and alternative methods of obtaining

finance. The second service is that they provide expertise in

channelling funds; they can provide specialist advice on areas to

channel funds to yield high results. The third service is maturity

information this is where the banks who have many depositors borrow

small amounts from each one so they are able to provide long term

loans. The final area which this essay will pick up on is the risk

transformation. This service provides the know how of how to allocate

loans and money to other money at the least possible risk to...

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...he world is

being introduced to the likes of global terrorism and the heinous

attacks of the worlds largest financial capital on September 11th

there was an increased reason to protect themselves form risks from

insider factors and now new deadly outsider factors. When you are in a

high risk market playing with large amounts of other people’s money to

make a financial system work there can never be no risk. As the

financial world gets to grips with new threats and risks it makes sure

that it has some ways of protecting itself. I would like to end this

essay with a quote "Take calculated risks. That is quite different

from being rash. Do not fear risk. All exploration, all growth is

calculated. Without challenge people cannot reach their higher selves.

Only if we are willing to walk over the edge can we become winners."

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