A payment system encompasses a set of instruments and means generally acceptable in making payments; the institutional and organizational framework governing such payments, including prudential regulation; and the operating procedures and communications network used to initiate and transmit payment information from payer to payee and to settle payments. This book, by Omotunde E.G. Johnson, with Richard K. Abrams, Jean-Marc Destresse, Tony Lybek, Nicholas Roberts, and Mark Swinburne, identifie...

During the 1970s, international lending by banks came to play a dominant role in the flow of international finance. In the early 1980s, banks have continued to play a major role, but the recent evidence of strains in international banking has raised questions about the prospects for continuity of international intermediation by banks.