“From Macro to Micro: The Functioning of Financial Intermediaries”

Key words: Financial intermediaries; access to financial services; cross-border banking; bank branching

A healthy and growing economy is built on a financial system that moves funds from people who save to people who have productive investment opportunities. In the presence of market imperfections, financial intermediaries help to reduce transaction costs and information asymmetries. Therefore, it is important to examine how financial intermediaries function, and what are the policy implications. This dissertation focuses on the functioning of financial intermediaries, from both macro and micro perspectives. It identifies the factors that determine access to financial services, including macro factors in cross-border banking and bank branching, and micro drivers of credit access. These findings call for coordination among regulatory authorities in a financial interdependent world.