1. Introduction

The traditional role of a bank is to transfer funds from savers to investors, engaging in maturity transformation, screening for borrower risk, and monitoring for borrower effort in doing so. Until not so long ago, a traditional loan contract included as salient dimensions its amount, the interest rate, its expected credit risk, the required collateral, and the currency in which the loan was granted, all “wrapped” up in a singular way of the bank-firm engagement that occurred mainly through the loan officer. However, the scope of the modern banking industry today is much broader, offering a range of sophisticated financial products, a wider geography-including exposure to countries with various currencies, regulation, and monetary policy regimes-and an increased reliance on financial innovation and technology. This book offers a review of how new financial products and technologies have changed the traditional lending contract.