Interest in reforming financial markets in developing economies has been rising, especially since the early 1980s, in part as a result of the reduction in international lending by commercial banks and the consequent need to increase domestic resources and maximize the efficiency with which they are invested. Reform programs also have often been the by-product of recognition of widespread financial distress. Developing countries' authorities that have embarked on reform recognized the inefficiencies associated with heavy intervention in the financial sector, especially with interest-rate controls and large directed-lending programs, and in many cases also were responding to difficulties in maintaining the efficacy of controls. Moreover, reforms have by no means been confined to developing nations: Rapid and sizable declines in computing and communication costs, product innovation, increased competition, and deregulation have changed the financial landscape in many industrialized countries in the last 20 years.