International banking: Current issues in perspective

Recent developments in international banking have raised new problems and policy issues as well as new opportunities for banks. To put these developments in perspective and analyze a number of policy issues of current concern is the purpose of the paper. In particular it sets out to explain three important aspects: the dollar's pre-eminence in spite of the ‘multinationalization’ of international banking, the more rapid growth of the international compared with the domestic banking sector, and the dominant role of banks in the expansion of international finance rather than other financial intermediaries or direct lending.