"This research explores competition among banks and other financial intermediaries, with specific implications for the asset allocation process and pricing policies in banking. This book provides the foundation for an additional perspective on optimal currency area theory (OCA). The links between financial and monetary integration (via financial intermediation and banking) offer another path towards understanding monetary transmission and therefore, OCA theory.

This study promotes the idea that banking and market imperfections are effectively two sides of the same coin. Financial intermediation, and the economics of banking, merit special consideration - especially in discovering the impact and effectiveness of financial integration and EMU."--BOOK JACKET.