The theme of this book "New strategies for financial services providers" is an equally relevant and important topic in science and practice. In the (post) informa tion age economy, the German financial services market and many big financial services providers are in a deep crisis. Increasing competition due to deregulation and improved transparency through new means of communication on the one hand, and empowered customers demanding individualized solutions for their fi nancial problems e. g. because of new working circumstances, increase the pres sure on the market participants to alter...

2008wasa disastrousyear for the ?nancial servicesindustry. Likean earthquake that measured 10+ on the Richter scale, the industry and the markets were globallyseverelyshaken-many?nancialinstitutions wentbankrupt, weretaken overormade useofmassivestateguaranteesandequityinjections. Governments allover, theglobeannouncedbankrescuepackagesinstaggeringheights. So, the traditional investment banking type of market structure and its dominance is gone-what's next? In these rough months it has become obvious how important a functioning ?nancial system is in our globalized world with interrelated...