New Trends in Banking Management : Physica : 9783790814880 : 3790814881 : 01 Apr 2002 : During the last decades the globalization, the intensified competition and the rapid changes in the socio-economic and technological environment had a major impact on the global economic, financial and business environments. Within this environment, it is clear that banking institutions worldwide face new challenges and increasing risks, as well as increasing business potentials. The recent experience shows that achieving a sustainable development of the banking system is not only of interest to the banking institutions themselves, but it is also directly related to the development of the whole business and economic environment, both at regional and international level. The variety of new banking products that is constantly being developed to accommodate the increased customer needs (firms, organizations, individuals, etc.) provides a clear indication of the changes that the banking industry has und