Credit intermediation - accepting deposits or other short-term funding from surplus agents and lending it on to corporations, households and public bodies with borrowing needs - is typically associated with banks. Traditionally credit intermediation has been provided through a business model where banks act as single intermediaries, managing all stages of the credit intermediation process. The role of other financial intermediaries, such as investment funds, has been limited. However, in recent decades, the provisioning of credit has become increasingly segmented, with the various stages of the intermediation process supplied by a variety of financial entities, specializing on one particular or several stages in the intermediation chain. The potential benefits from such segmentation are substantial. It allows for more efficient intermediation, provides opportunities to diversify risk, improves pricing and allocation of risk as well as avoids its concentration in (typically a few large) banks. It also increases supply of funding and liquidity, thereby lowering costs for banks, their clients and the overall economy (Duffie, 2008; Bengtsson, 2014a). © 2018 selection and editorial matter, Anastasia Nesvetailova; individual chapters, the contributors.