Master of Economics and Business Bissenova R.A.

 

Kyzylorda State University Korkyt Ata, Kazakhstan

 

Financial intermediation and financial intermediaries

 

 

All economic units (entities operating in the economy) can be assigned to one of the following groups: 1) households; 2) firms; 3) state.

In each period, the budget of any economic unit can be in one of three states:

1) the state budget balance, characterized by equality of incomes and planned expenditures; 2) The state budget surplus when revenues exceed planned expenditures; 3) State budget deficit when expenditures exceed revenues.

The financial system is carried out by means of the purchasing power of the economic units from a budget surplus (creditors) to the economic units with deficit budget (borrowers).

Financial intermediation - the direct purchase requirements with one set of characteristics in economic units with a budget surplus and converting them into proximity with the requirements of other parameters.

Financial intermediaries - organizations which direct their commitment to economic units with surplus budgets and obtained by use of the funds to purchase obligations for economic units with deficit budget.

The objective of financial intermediaries is to overcome difficulties in the interaction between the lender and the borrower.

Positive aspects of financial intermediation

Firstly, because of its specialization financial intermediary carries out transactions in such volumes that achieves economies of scale. In other words, due to the large number of transactions and the use of a special office equipment it can significantly reduce the amount of fixed costs per transaction.

Second, financial intermediaries achieve savings on transaction costs (costs associated with the search for the necessary information) to anyone who wants to make a loan to the borrower directly by search for information is usually more expensive.

Third, financial intermediaries may have important information about the financial condition of the borrower. They establish reliable information easily provided to the borrower, because they know a lot about the personality of the recipient of the loan, the history of its business and recent transactions.

Due to above considered reasons, financial intermediaries often offer a "financial product" at a lower price than individual market participants. Otherwise, it is more profitable for individual market participants to create their own "financial product» and present it at the market of direct loans.

Therefore, financial intermediaries exist because of the establishment of many «financial products" in small quantities the value of transaction costs is too high. If these costs are relatively low, or if the need for this "product" often occurs, reducing them through economies of scale, the individual market participant will be able to deal with his own creation.

When you create a "financial product», mediators have four main types of services.

1. Fragmentation of the loan amount. Obligations issued by financial intermediaries may have different ratings - from one to many millions of dollars. This is possible thanks to the fact that the mediator integrates funds of many investors and invests them afterwards in direct requirements of various denominations. This service is especially important for small investors who do not have sufficient amounts for independent market entry of direct loans.

2.       Transfer of one national currency to another. Many companies are exporting goods and services to other countries, but not all are willing to finance foreign operations of these companies by buying direct financial requirements, which are nominated in foreign currency. Financial intermediaries help to fund the expansion of worldwide corporations with the help of the purchase financial demands exhibited in a national currency, sales and requirements nominated in other currencies.

3.       Establishment of flexible system maturities. Financial intermediaries issue securities with a broad range of maturities - from 1 day to 30 years.

4.   Diversification of nonpayment risk. Thanks to the fact that the assets of financial intermediaries are formed from a variety requirements, they have an opportunity to distribute the risk on own securities. If fluctuations in the prices of various components of the portfolio less connected with each other, then the cost will be stable.

5.   Portfolio diversification is an impact on the opinion that the "do not put all your eggs in one basket," where they can "to break" all simultaneously. For example, if the portfolio is composed of various securities and the issuer of one of them would be insolvency, the total portfolio yield will suffer slightly. However, investors who have invested in this security all of its funds will incur substantial losses.

6.       Ensuring liquidity. At the moment of receiving revenue in most consumers rarely coincides with the emergence of the need for money. For this reason, the majority of economic performers prefer to keep part of the assets, with low transaction costs in convenient to transact into cash form.

Many of the "financial products" produced by the mediators are liquid. For example, a checking account allows the consumer to acquire assets or to pay the debt with minimal transaction costs.

 

Literature

 

1.    Искаков У.М. Рузиева Э. Бохаев Д.Т. Финансовые рынки и посредники. Алматы - Экономика, 2005.

2.    «О товариществах с ограниченной и дополнительной ответственностью» Закон РК от 22.04.1998г

3.    «О Национальном банке РК» Закон РК от 30.03.1995 г.