1 Introduction

Businesses may talk about the importance of trust in building strong commercial relationships, but essentially modern enterprise is based on the principle of mutual distrust. In the global marketplace we buy goods we have never physically seen from people we do not know and may never meet. When we are unable to do business “face to face” we introduce uncertainty into the transaction. How can the buyer know for sure that the goods he has ordered from someone on the other side of the planet will actually be delivered? And how can the seller know for sure that he will receive the money for the goods? To help manage this mistrust and uncertainty we use “middlemen”, institutions like banks that both parties can trust.