Today, the New York Fed’s Liberty Street Economics blog begins a seven-part series that explores the changing role of banks in the financial intermediation process. A series of Economic Policy Review articles will accompany the blogs. Both series discuss the complexity of the credit intermediation chain associated with securitization and note the growing participation of nonbank entities within it. These series also discuss implications for monitoring and rulemaking going forward.

In today's blog post, New York Fed economist Nicola Cetorelli introduces the series and provides a preview of the topics covered. Additionally, he lays out the overarching theme of the volume—the fact that banks continue to be major players in the modern credit intermediation system.
The next six posts will run over the next five business days and examine, in order:

• Banks’ increasing use of the originate-to-distribute model
• The role of banks as credit enhancers along the credit intermediation chain
• The importance of banks as issuers, underwriters, servicers, and trustees
• Some trends and stylized facts about the size, organizational complexity, and scope of large bank holding companies
• The importance of interest income relative to fee-based income and the                               contributions of banks and nonbank subsidiaries to the bottom line of bank holding companies
• The way in which the continued monitoring of banks—which are still central to the intermediation process—can inform supervisors about innovations and risk in the “shadow” banking system.

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About Liberty Street Economics:
Liberty Street Economics is a blog produced by the New York Fed’s Research and Statistics Group. The blog allows the Bank’s economists to share their research and analysis on current issues and to engage in a direct dialogue with a broad online audience. Posts on Liberty Street Economics cover topics ranging from finance and monetary policy to the regional economy and other timely issues. The views expressed in the blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York or the Federal Reserve System.

About the Economic Policy Review:
The Economic Policy Review is a policy-oriented journal focusing on economic and financial market issues. The Review publishes new research by Federal Reserve Bank of New York economists, papers by affiliated economists, and the proceedings of Bank-sponsored conferences. Executive summaries of select articles are available online.