Financial intermediation is concerned with how funds are channeled between parties with an excess of capital but no productive use for that capital to those who have a productive use but lack capital. This intermediary duty has been historically fulfilled by banks, but the last couple of years has seen the rise of new technologies facilitating peer-to-peer lending, fintech, etc. The question is why these technologies (do not) succeed, what is the comparative advantage of banks given these alternatives, and whether we even still need banks.