Is the disintermediation of the economy’s financing desirable?

Disintermediation consists in shifting the risk of financing the economy from financial intermediaries to households . There may still be intermediaries between the final borrower and households (investment funds, private equity funds, unit-linked life insurance, etc.), but these intermediaries are “ transparent ” and pass on the risks ( portfolio gains and losses) to households. Is it desirable to disintermediate , in this sense, the financing of the economy? Disintermediation reduces financial intermediaries ’ systemic risk , prevents crises among these intermediaries and enables them to consume less capital; But it shifts the risk to households, which are less well - equipped to diversify risk and which, in Europe, are highly risk-averse; Moreover, it leads to a situation where companies face periods during which they cannot obtain financing, as they are shut out of financial markets. This does not happen with intermediated financing. Further, it requires companies to be able to reduce their spending sharply, leading in particular to the need for a highly flexible labour market. Altogether, from a normative viewpoint, disintermediation is probably not desirable. It would be preferable to consider better ways of carrying out intermediation.