Role Of Financial Institutions

Financial institutions play a pivotal role in every economy. The central government organization regulates banking and non-banking financial institutions. In addition, these institutions help bridge the gap between idle savings and investment and its borrowers, i.e., from net savers to net borrowers.

Financial institutions are the backbone of the economy. Without the help of these institutions, the economy will go down and cannot stand up. Due to their pivotal role in the development and growth of the economy, the government regulates these institutions through the central bank, insurance regulators, pension fund regulators, etc. Over the years, their role has expanded from accepting and lending funds to larger service areas.

• Financial institutions perform a critical role in the economy. The central government organization controls banking and non-banking financial institutions. 
• Moreover, these institutions fill the gap between idle savings and investment and its borrowers, i.e., from net savers to borrowers.
• The roles such as money supply regulation, banking services, insurance services, capital formation, investment advice, brokerage services, pension fund services, trust fund services, financing small and medium-scale enterprises, and acting as a government agent for economic growth are played by the financial institutions. 

The roles of financial institution is extremely crucial in any economy. Finance is the backbone of a country because it helps in procuring funds for creation of investment opportunities, development of infrastructure, boosting trade and commerce and overall development.

The financial institutions are the ones that facilitate in conducting transactions related to loans, deposits, investment opportunity, buying and selling or making and receiving payments related to any kind of business. The role of financial institutions in economic development lies in the fact that such institutions help in channelizing funds that are earned and saved by individuals or corporates. It is important to direct those funds towards proper uses where they will be invested in projects or areas where finance is urgently required for development and expansion.

These institution facilitate allocation of money efficiently by facilitating flow of money within business, banks, credit unions, insurance companies and individuals which highlights the role of financial institutions in economic development.

The following is the list of roles performed by financial institutions: -

1. Regulation of monetary supply
2. Banking services
3. Insurance services
4. Capital formation
5. Investment advice
6. Brokerage services
7. Pension fund services
8. Trust fund services
9. Financing the small and medium-scale enterprises
10. Act as a government agent for economic growth

In this article we will study the various roles that these institutions play in order to distribute the money and assets effectively among every part of the society. The role of financial institutions and markets also require that however, they need to abide by various rules and regulations that influence their workings and keep their operational procedure in check. This monitoring ensures that there is transparency and accountability at every level of the institutions. This also helps in reducing fraud and mismanagement of funds.

Let us discuss each nature and role of financial institutions in detail: -

Financial institutions like the Central Bank help regulate the money supply in the economy to maintain stability and control inflation. For example, the Central Bank applies various measures like increasing or decreasing repo rate, cash reserve ratio, and open market operations, i.e., buying and selling government securities, to regulate liquidity in the economy.

Among various nature and role of financial institutions, these institutions, like commercial banks, help their customers by providing savings and deposit services. In addition, they offer credit facilities like overdraft facilities to the customers to cater to the need for short-term funds. Commercial banks also extend loans like personal loans, education loans, mortgages, or home loans to their customers.

Financial institutions, like insurance companies, help to mobilize savings and investment in productive activities. In return, they assure investors against their life or some particular asset at the time of need. In other words, they transfer their customer’s risk of loss to themselves.

Financial institutions help in capital formation, i.e., increase in capital stock like the plant, machinery, tools and equipment, buildings, transport, communication, etc. Moreover, they mobilize the idle savings from individuals in the economy to the investor through various monetary services.

There are many investment options available at the disposal of individuals and businesses. But it is not easy to choose the best option in the current swiftly changing environment. Almost all financial institutions (banking or non-banking) have an investment advisory desk that helps customers, investors, and businesses to select the best investment option available in the market according to their risk appetite and other factors.

These institutions provide their investors access to several investment options available in the market, ranging from stock bonds (common investment alternative) to hedge funds and private equity investment (lesser-known alternative).

Through their various kinds of investment plans, financial institutions help individuals plan their retirement. One such investment option is a pension fund. The individual contributes to the investment pool by employers, banks, or other organizations and gets the lump sum or monthly income after retirement.

Some financial organizations provide trust fund services to their clients. They manage the client’s assets, invest them in the best option available in the market, and take care of its safekeeping.

Financial institutions help small and medium-scale enterprises set up themselves in their initial business days. They provide long-term as well as short-term funds to these companies. The long-term fund helps them form capital, and short-term funds fulfill their day-to-day working capital needs.

The government regulates financial institutions on a national level. They act as a government agent and help grow the nation’s economy and ensures that there is an important role of financial institutions in rural marketing as well. For example, to help out an ailing sector, financial institutions, as per the guidelines from the government, issue a selective credit line with lower interest rates to help the industry overcome the issues it is facing.

Thus, we see that the role of financial institutions in rural marketing and urban development help to perform various services that connect the savings to the investment opportunities so that money flows in a useful direction and facilitates growth and expansion of the economy. But some amount of reules and regulations are also important which will keep track of their operations to ensure that these institutions act in the best interest of the society and not only concentrate of profit motive. Every government has a variety of law and rules to keep them under continuous monitoring and check.

This article is a guide to what is the Role Of Financial Institutions. We explain the concept along with different roles of the institutions in an economy. You may learn more about financing from the following articles: -

• Financial Market
• Institutional Investors
• Financial Risk
• Financial Information