The sector also actively contributes to the capital market. In 2014, the industry raised $8 billion in equity capital, sold more than $37 billion in new debt, and a total of $14 billion in new M&A deals, a 79% increase over 2013 (Department of the Treasury, 2015) . According to previous studies, from the 1960s to the 1980s, there is a direct correlation between a country's growth, measured by its gross national product, and the acceleration in the development of the financial sector as an increase in total assets and written premiums ( Haiss & Sumegi,