ABSTRACT
The papers in this volume were presented at a colloquium jointly organized in Brussels 25-27 October 2001 by the Société Universitaire Européenne de Recherches Financières (SUERF) and the Belgian Financial Forum (BFF). The theme of the colloquium was ‘Technology and Finance: Challenges for Financial Markets, Business Strategies and Policy Makers’. The authors illuminate a large number of important aspects of this theme. Technology has important implications for the earnings, costs, risks, competitiveness and location of financial institutions. It affects the way securities transactions are carried out, the transparency of the markets, settlement activities and the structure of the exchange industry. Technology changes payments systems and the framework for strategic decisions in the financial industry and for monetary policy. Financial supervision and regulation must be adapted to new risks and new risk management methods.
