Financial institutions serve as intermediaries by channelling the savings of individuals,

businesses, and governments into loans or investments. Many financial institutions directly or
indirectly pay savers interest on deposited funds; others provide services for a fee (for example,
checking accounts for which customers pay service charges). Some financial institutions accept
customers’ savings deposits and lend this money to other customers or to firms; others invest
Customers’ savings in earning assets such as real estate or stocks and bonds; and some do both.
Financial institutions are required by the government to operate within established regulatory
guidelines.

Commercial banks are among the most important financial institutions in the Economy because
they provide savers with a secure place to invest funds and they Offer both individuals and
companies loans to finance investments, such as the Purchase of a new home and the
expansion of a business.

Investment banks are institutions that

(1) assist companies in raising capital
(2) advise firms on major transactions such as mergers or financial restructurings , and
(3) engage in trading and market making activities.

Flow of Funds from financial institutions and markets

Financial markets are forums in which suppliers of funds and demanders of funds can transact
business directly.
To raise money, firms can use either private placements or public offerings. A private
placement involves the sale of a new security directly to an investor or group of investors, such
as an insurance company or pension fund. Most firms, however, raise money through a public
offering of securities, which is the sale of either bonds or stocks to the general public.
PRIMARY VS. SECONDARY MARKET

When a company or government entity sells stocks or bonds to investors and receives cash in
return, it is said to have sold securities in the primary market. After the primary market
transaction occurs, any further trading in the security does not involve the issuer directly, and
the issuer receives no additional money from these subsequent transactions. Once the
securities begin to trade between investors, they become part of the secondary market

MONEY MARKET VS. CAPITAL MARKET

The money market is created by a financial relationship between suppliers and demanders of
short-term funds (funds with maturities of one year or less). The money market exists because
some individuals, businesses, governments, and financial institutions have temporarily idle
funds that they wish to invest in a relatively safe, interest-bearing asset.

 marketable securities are Short-term debt instruments, such as U.S. Treasury bills,
Commercial paper, and negotiable certificates of deposit issued by government, business, and
financial institutions, respectively.

The capital market is a market that enables suppliers and demanders of long-term funds to
make transactions.
The key capital market securities are bonds (long-term debt) and both common stock and
preferred stock (equity, or ownership).

 Bonds are long-term debt instruments used by business and government to raise large
sums of money, generally from a diverse group of lenders

 Shares of common stock are units of ownership, or equity, in a corporation. Common

stockholders earn a return by receiving dividends— periodic distributions of cash—or by
realizing increases in share price.

 Preferred stock is a special form of ownership that has features of both a bond and
common stock. Preferred stockholders are promised a fixed periodic dividend that must be paid
prior to payment of any dividends to common stockholders. In other words, preferred stock has
“preference” over common stock

BROKER VS. DEALER MARKETS

The key difference between broker and dealer markets is a technical point dealing with the way
trades are executed. That is, when a trade occurs in a broker market, the two sides to the
transaction, the buyer and the seller, are brought together and the trade takes place at that
point: Party A sells his or her securities directly to the buyer, Party B. In a sense, with the help
of a broker, the securities effectively change hands on the floor of the exchange
  Securities exchanges
Organizations that provide the marketplace in which firms can raise funds through the sale of
new securities and purchasers can resell securities.

In contrast, when trades are made in a dealer market, the buyer and the seller are never
brought together directly. Instead, market makers execute the buy/sell orders. Market makers
are securities dealers who “make markets” by offering to buy or sell certain securities at stated
prices. Essentially, two separate trades are made: Party A sells his or her securities (in, say, Dell)
to a dealer, and Party B buys his or her securities (in Dell) from another, or possibly even the
same, dealer. Thus, there is always a dealer (market maker) on one side of a dealer–market
transaction.

Dealer Markets One of the key features of the dealer market is that it has no centralized trading
floors. Instead, it is made up of a large number of market makers who are linked together via a
mass-telecommunications network. Each market maker is actually a securities dealer who
makes a market in one or more securities by offering to buy or sell them at stated bid/ask
prices. The bid price and ask price represent, respectively, the highest price offered to purchase
a given security and the lowest price at which the security is offered for sale.\

 Nasdaq market
An all-electronic trading platform used to execute securities trades.

 Over-the-counter (OTC)market
Market where smaller, unlisted securities are traded.

From a firm’s perspective, the role of a capital market is to be a liquid market where firms can
interact with investors to obtain valuable external financing resources. From investors’
perspectives, the role of a capital market is to be an efficient market that allocates funds to
their most productive uses.

Efficient market
A market that allocates funds to their most productive uses as a result of competition among
wealth-maximizing investors and that determines and publicizes prices that are believed to be
close to their true value.