We built an original database of the flow of funds accounts to assess the final destination of household financial wealth. The method, based on matrix stepwise calculation, made all financial intermediaries transparent. Our results rejected the usual dichotomy between bank-and market-based systems. The diversification of monetary and non-monetary financial intermediaries’ roles revealed various ways of interpenetration, including consolidation in Europe, credit risk transfer techniques in the United States, and the lengthening of the intermediation chain. Based on the same function of transformation of indirect debt securities,our findings reinforce Gurley and Shaw’s unifying definition of financial intermediation.