We built an original database of flow of funds financial accounts in order to assess the final destination of households’ financial wealth. Our method based on matrix calculation stepwise makes all financial intermediaries transparent. We reject the usual dichotomy between bankand market-based systems. The diversity of monetary and non-monetary financial intermediaries’ roles includes various ways of interpenetration – consolidation in Europe, credit risk transfer techniques in the U.S. – and the lengthening of the intermediation chain. Based on the same function of transformation of indirect debt securities, it reinforces the Gurley and Shaw’s unifying definition of financial intermediation.