Most people do not enter financial markets directly but use intermediaries or middlemen. Commercial banks are the major Financial Intermediaries (FIs). However, in macroeconomics, mutual funds, pension funds, credit unions, savings and loan associations and insurance companies are also important FIs. They provide two important advantages to savers: less risk and liquidity. FIs need to have an agenda of not only satisfying the customer needs, but also to foresee the future trend. In this context, the role of the FIs in the 21st Century is discussed with a research perspective.

Among all private corporations, Financial Intermediaries (FIs) are singled out for special regulatory attention. To justify such regulation, advocates usually argue that FIs provide special functions or services and major disturbances to or interferences with those functions can lead to adverse effects on the rest of the economywhat economists call negative externalities. First we examine this distinctiveness in general, the special functions provided by FIs and how the economy is benefited by those functions. Secondly, we analyse the fact that how some FIs are more special than others. And thirdly, we probe into the issue how unique and long-lived are the special functions of FIs.

China, which states that it has embraced what it calls "socialistic market economy", had a head start with regard to SEZs, having initiated action way back in 1980. China's objectives in this regard are well-defined: SEZs have to attract not only substantial FDIs, but also expertise and superior technology. This is in sync with the wider objective of China to transform the nation into one, whose economy is export driven, by enhancing its global capabilities in manufacturing and processing, using inexpensive labor.

Professional Banker Magazine, Financial Intermediaries, Financial Markets, Mutual Funds, Pension Funds, Corporate Equity, Asset-transformation Function, Federal Reserve, Consumer Protection Laws, Financial Services Market, Mutual and Pension Funds, Financial Markets, Credit Risk Management, Capital Adequacy, Cross-sectional Analysis.