Internet Banking
Services Provided through the Internet
Use of the Internet to carry out financial transactions is certainly one of the most promising avenues to day for linking customers with financial service providers. Through the Internet a customer can:
(a) verify real-time account balances anytime from any location;
(b) move funds instantly from one account to another;
(c) confirm that deposits have been made, checks have cleared, and online transactions have taken place;
(d) view and print images of checks that have passed through a customer's account;
(e) place an order for new checks;
(f) submit an application for loans and credit cards; and
(g) carry out online bill paying.What it so remarkable about the Internet is its apparent capacity for almosts unlimited expansion as new customer service needs become evident. The "Net" is rapidly emerging as a device not only for communication, but also for entertainment, for conducting and storing transactions, for the acquisition of knowledge, and for sharing important business and personal information to support instant decision making. No wonder some experts have predicted that the expansion of internet banking mau eventually spell the doom for neighborhood brick-and-mortar branch offices with their huge resource demands.
Challenges in Providing Internet Services
However, despite all of these potential advantages of the "Net" financial-services managers have discovered there are some real limits to what the Internet can do, at least with current technology. While scores of Internet-only ("virtual") banks have appeared over the past decade, not all of these institutions have succeeded. For example, the managers of such virtual banks as National Interbank and Juniper Financial have discovered that not having a network of convenient neighborhood branch offices may prove to be a real business obstacle, especially in attracting household deposits.
