Internet Banking

Internet banking

A study of user demographics, advantages, disadvantages and its future

Chapter 1 Introduction to internet banking

Chapter 2 User demographics

Chapter 3 Comparative study of online services provided by:

* Bank Of America

* Wells Fargo

* American Business Bank

Chapter 4 Factors influencing the adoption of internet banking

* Advantages of internet banking

* Disadvantages of internet banking

Chapter 5 Online banking security

Chapter 6 Future of Internet banking

References

Chapter 1:

An introduction to internet banking

Definition

Internet banking refers to systems that enable bank customers to access accounts and general information on bank products and services through a personal computer or other intelligent device.

Quite simply, it allows individuals to perform banking activities at home, via the internet. Traditional banks allow customers to perform all routine transactions, such as account transfers, balance inquiries, bill payments and stop-payment requests; some even offer online loan and credit card applications. Account information can be accessed anytime, day or night, and from anywhere. Some other banks are online only and thus provide all their services online; they have no physical presence.

"Informational" is the very basic kind of internet banking where the bank provides information on its products and services, on a stand alone server. The level of risk in this is relatively low as there is no interaction between the banks systems and the customer. This service can either be provided by the bank or can also be outsourced.

"Communicative" is the type of internet banking which allows some amount of interaction between the customer and the banks systems. This interaction may be limited to electronic mail, account enquiry, loan applications or static file updates (name and address changes). There is some amount of risk involved in this kind of internet banking, therefore appropriate controls need to be in place in order to monitor and prevent or alert management of any unauthorized attempts to access the banks internal networks or systems.

The third and last type of internet banking is "transactional" which allows customers to execute transactions online. Since a path typically exists between the server and the banks internal network, there is a high risk involved and therefore must have the strongest controls. Customer transactions can include accessing accounts, paying bills, transferring funds etc.

The risks involved in internet banking, some security issues and measures taken by banks to ensure secure online banking, will be discussed at length in the chapters that follow

Chapter 2:

User Demographics:

The GVU - Graphic, Visualization and Usability Centre is a research group that studies the interaction between people, computing machines and information. In its 7th WWW user survey, it studied the various categories of users of the internet; surveys were conducted to define the demographics of people that are involved in various activities on the internet.

One of their surveys was designed to help practitioners and researchers understand internet user's perspective on internet banking, their experiences and their expectations of the banking services available online. This summary provides a description of the profile of consumers who have Internet bank accounts versus those who do not have such accounts, their Internet/computer experience, general banking activities, and the factors affecting the decision to open this type of account.

Summary

Age: The range of those respondents with an Internet bank account ranged from age 20 to 69. Of the respondents with accounts, 45.3% were aged 20-29, 17.2% were aged 30-39, 15.6% were aged 40-49, 14.1% were aged 50-59, and 7.8% were aged 60-69.

Gender: 71.9% of those with Internet bank accounts were male.

Education: 90.6% of the respondents who had Internet bank accounts had completed a college degree.

Income: 24.1% of those with Internet bank accounts reported an annual income of $75,000 or more; 39.7% reported incomes ranging from $40,000 to $75,000; 24.1% reported incomes ranging from $20,000 to $40,000. The remainder (12%) was under $20,000 per year.

Internet/Computer Experience: 4.7% of Internet bank account holders had less than 6 months of experience using the Internet; 12.5% had 6 to 12 months experience; 39.1% had used the Internet for 1 to 3 years; 28.1% for 4 to 6 years and 15.6% used the Internet for at least 7 years. Therefore, of those with Internet bank accounts, nearly 83% had used the Internet for at least one year. However, of the respondents without Internet bank accounts, 75.8% had used the Internet for at least one year.

Purchases via the Worldwide Web: 20.3% of those with Internet bank accounts claim to have purchased some product over the internet, while only 2.6% of those without an Internet bank account have made such a purchase.

Usage of Financial Software: 62.5% of those with Internet bank accounts have used off-the-shelf financial management software such as Quicken or MS Money, while 55.4% of those without an Internet bank account have used this type of software products.

General Banking Activities:

Visits to Bank Branch: 51.2% of those with Internet bank accounts typically visit a physical bank branch on average less than once per month, in contrast to 31.8% of those without an Internet bank account.

Bank by Phone: Of those respondents with Internet bank accounts 32.3% have used