ABSTRACT
There has been extensive writing on financial innovation in recent years at both the academic and policy-making levels (Silber, 1975, 1983; Federal Reserve Board of New York, 1981-82; Bank of England, 1983). If we take Silber (1983) as a convenient starting point, we see that, as far as the causes of financial innovations are concerned, the main ones are:
1 Policy: existing regulations or legislative initiatives to relax regulations.
