At the end of my speech, I shall share my views on the future of banking with you. You will understand that it is impossible for me to tackle all relevant issues due to time constraints. Forces for change in European banking 2. The European banking landscape is generally expected to undergo drastic changes over the next few years. Perhaps the most fundamental force for change in the financial sector has been the evolution of technology, particularly computing and telecommunications.
Technological innovations affect banking capacity by changing production costs.
They also spur disintermediation, increase competition by lowering entry and exit barriers, help the internationalisation process, and so on. Technological developments have shaped banking business both internally and externally. Internally by means of the reconstruction of banks' internal organisation and production processes and externally by spurring product innovation and establishing new distribution channels. The fruits of developments in information technology are, of course, available to non-banks as well as banks. Another driving force behind structural changes in the European banking sector is undoubtedly the introduction of the euro.