Abstract:

The recent period of time has meant an unprecedented liberalization, due to the drastic cut down of the global barriers that are ahead competition. The deregulation that took place everywhere in the world allowed the consolidation and the extension towards more varied types of financial institutions; the improvements in the information technology processes, in telecommunications and financial technologies facilitated geographical extension, thus allowing institutions to manage ever-increasing in-flows of information from several locations and to evaluate and manage risks at lower costs, without necessarily having geographical proximity to the clients. The increase of cross-border activities of non-financial companies also increased the demand for the institutions that supply financial services beyond borders.