The mutual fund industry is beginning to use the Internet to disseminate fund information and effect fund transactions. The Internet also makes it much easier for savers to obtain information about individual securities and much cheaper to trade these securities. As the Internet develops, will savers make their investment directly in individual securities rather through financial intermediaries such as mutual funds? Solution A financial intermediary is an institution or individual that serves as a conduit for parties in a financial transaction. They act as go-betweens by holding a portfolio of assets and issuing claims based on that portfolio, various informations regarding that portfolio to savers. Typically speaking these financial intermediaries are institutions that facilitates the channeling of funds between lenders and borrowers indirectly . In the climate of finance and development, financial intermediaries generally refer to private sector intermediaries, such as banks, mutual funds, private equity, venture capital funds, leasing companies, insurance and pension funds. Financial intermediaries not only work as the intermediate agent on commission base, but will contribute valuables to the savers. They help the individual saver to judge the security by going through a deep analysis regarding the security. So, it will not a good act to do investment directly in individual securities rather through financial intermediaries such as mutual funds. .