I recently started taking more note of podcasts, although only 9% of content marketing takes place through audio I can see this changing as more firms follow Goldman's lead of this very insightful, digestible podcast.

This particular podcast talks about The Socialisation of Finance and the role shadow banks are playing in this.

Shadow banks

typically relate to traditional lending by non-bank financial institutions and according to the federal reserve there is $15 trillion within these.

Bringing finance down to the people

is mainly due to several factors:

1. Regulation - The same regulation does not apply to shadow banks. Basel III, Dodd-Frank stress test are all holding traditional banks back.

2. Use of technology - Banks have tonnes of data but have never used it before, shadow banks now leverage algorithms, data aggregation platforms and importantly my generation would rather interact through an app than a branch manager.

3. Low cost basis for shadow banks - being online.

4. Delivery channels are more efficient - to borrow money you don't need a stack of papers anymore you simply complete online registration. With the likes of Digitteria on the horizon this will become even easier.

It would appear based on the above even more money will move across to shadow banks. From personal experience I certainly rather use a branch-free online bank than relying on physical interactions. I imagine in the future we will begin to see 'news feeds' of our friends spending within Facebook, which is already happening to an extent.