Coming out of the Shadows

Since the collapse of banks in the United States and Europe triggered the global financial crisis, the "shadow banking system" has been regarded as something of a ghost. From a legal perspective, it is not real banking system, but it possesses almost all the financial and credit functions that banks have. At the same time, it enjoys looser supervision.

In other words, the shadow banking system offers higher leverage and returns with lower costs, something that is attractive to many financial institutions. But it is also vulnerable and dangerous in the eyes of regulators.