Credit management
Introduction
The financial system of a country is the set of institutions, markets and instruments whose main function is to channel savings from economic units with an economic surplus to those with an economic deficit. Through this process, the movement of money is facilitated, the payment system is organized and the efficient allocation of resources in the economy is promoted.[1].
In addition to channeling funds, the financial system fulfills other relevant functions, such as offering risk coverage mechanisms "Hedge (finance)", providing liquidity to assets, facilitating price formation and contributing to general financial stability.[2].
According to Alejandro Martínez Torres Omar, in his book Economic Analysis, the financial system is the set of regulations, standards, instruments, people and institutions that operate and constitute the money market as well as the capital market. Guiding and directing both savings and investment, connecting the supply and demand of money in a country.
The work of intermediation is carried out by the institutions that make up the financial system, and is considered basic to transform the financial assets, called primary, issued by the investing units (in order to obtain funds to increase their real assets), into indirect financial assets, more in line with the preferences of savers.
The financial system includes both financial instruments or assets, institutions or intermediaries and financial markets: intermediaries buy and sell assets in financial markets.
Classification of the financial system
This is separated into three large categories.
Financial assets
Financial assets are those securities or accounting entries issued by economic spending units, which constitute a means of maintaining wealth for those who own them and a liability for those who generate them. Financial assets, unlike real assets, do not contribute to increasing the general wealth of a country, since they are not counted in the Gross Domestic Product of a country, but they do contribute and facilitate the mobilization of the real resources of the economy, contributing to the real growth of wealth. The characteristics of financial assets are three: