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- 1. International Journal of Information Technology & Management Information System (IJITMIS), ISSN
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY &
0976 – 6405(Print), ISSN 0976 – 6413(Online) Volume 4, Issue 3, September - December (2013), © IAEME
MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM (IJITMIS)
ISSN 0976 – 6405(Print)
ISSN 0976 – 6413(Online)
Volume 4, Issue 3, September - December (2013), pp. 12-24
© IAEME: http://www.iaeme.com/IJITMIS.asp
Journal Impact Factor (2013): 5.2372 (Calculated by GISI)
www.jifactor.com
IJITMIS
©IAEME
INTERNET BANKING AND ITS ADOPTION IN THE ARAB WORLD
Adnan M. Al-Khatib
CIS Dept., College of IT and Computer Science,
Jerash University, Jerash – Jordan.
ABSTRACT
Internet banking (IB) is the new technology in banking environment that allows the
bank customers to do banking activities at any time and from any place. This technology
introduced in the Arab world before more than 10 years, but unfortunately the rate of usage
of IB services from the customers' side still very weak. This paper gives an overview about
IB technology in general, IB services and capabilities, and the adoption of IB in the Middle
East and the Arab world.
Keywords: Internet banking, e-banking, online banking, e-services, e-banking capabilities,
e-banking in Arab world.
1. INTRODUCTION
Electronic banking (e-banking), also known as Cyberbanking, Internet banking (IB),
Virtual banking, Online banking, Home banking, Personal banking, and other names; means
that various banking activities can be conducted at any time from home, business, or the road
instead of at a physical bank location.
Innovations in computing and telecommunications have improved all the functions in
retail banking. Computers have empowered the production and telecommunications have
created new distribution channels that have global reach. Of these new channels, Internet is
the least costly and with widest reach.
The advent of e-Business (e-commerce), technological innovations and globalization
are increasingly driving businesses to change their traditional modes of operation. Globally,
the financial sector is changing under the impact of competitive, regulatory and technological
forces. Today, IB is being considered as a strategic tool by the global banking sector, to
remain competitive and retain customers.
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Today, most of the large banks offer fully secure, fully functional online banking for
free or for a small fee. Medium and small banks and other financial companies offer some
forms of online banking.
In this paper, we will give an overview and discuss some issues about the IB
technology and focus on adoption of this technology in the Arab world. In section 2, we show
the factors that driving the banking sector to consider IB as a strategic tool for their business.
In section 3, we show the opportunities and challenges that the banks face from the
development and growth of Internet technology. In section 4, we give an overview about the
different electronic distribution channels used in banking. In section 5, an overview about the
IB system architecture is given. In section 6, we discussed some points about the security of
the IB services. In section 7, we list and explained some of the services and capabilities
offered by IB. In section 8, we show the initial steps for registering and using the IB services.
In section 9, we discussed the adoption of IB technology in the Arab world. In section 10, we
give a discussion about IB technology and its future trends. Finally, a conclusion is given.
2. DRIVING FORCES IN IB
The advent of e-Business (e-commerce), technological innovations and globalization
are increasingly driving businesses to change their traditional types of operation. The
business strategist Michael Porter identified five competitive forces which affects and
measure the position of any organization in the market. These forces are: barriers to entry,
power of suppliers, power of buyers (customers), substitutes of products and competitors [5].
New Entrants
Suppliers
Competitors
Buyers
(Customers)
Substitute
Figure 1: Porter’s five forces model
Applying Porter’s Five Forces Model (Porter,1985) to the banking industry,
researchers found that: first, the critical factor – barriers to entry – no longer exists in
banking. Competitors can come from any industry; for example, credit card issuers and
Microsoft financial services are from non-banking companies. In addition many countries
have de-regulated their banking sector, which eliminate the entry barriers to banks
competitors. Second, Product differentiation is very difficult for banks, since most of the
products in retail banking are constrained by legal or industry regulations. Third, bargaining
power of customers is increasing, switching costs are becoming lower with Internet banking
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and customer loyalties are harder to retain. Fourth, Threat of substitutes to banking from nonbanking organizations is increasing.
Porter’s Model shows that banks are under threat, and trend toward electronic banking
services is necessary for banks. Banking institutions are responding to their competitors by
developing electronic money channels, leveraging e-commerce technology, and creating
online services through the Internet.
Internet is increasingly considered as a strategic weapon by banks to lower cost and
provide value added services for customers. Internet can play a major role as a source of
competitive information (competitive intelligence); for example, through the Internet a bank
can review competitors’ Web sites, analyze related newsgroups, examine publicly available
financial documents, and ask the customers—award prizes to those who best describe the
bank competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.
3. OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FROM IB
Internet offers many opportunities to financial services providers, and many
challenges for them to face:
3.1 Opportunities
IB with friendly user interface, trusted system, and large number of online services
will attract customers to banking, and as a result increase the bank revenue. Banks can
generate revenue through increased account access fees, and cross-sell products such as credit
cards and loans. The Internet enables banks to offer low-cost, high value-added financial
services, become technology providers by selling banking products, providing technology
information about these products, Providing back bone systems to support multiple payment
system alternatives, and remain competitive with their competitors.
3.2 Challenges
Banks and customers had serious concerns about the security of the Internet, which
was the biggest challenge for IB. Advances in Internet security and the advent of relevant
protocols such as SET, SSL, OFX, etc. increase consumer confidence, and put banks in
perspective again as financial intermediaries. Regulatory barriers in many countries are on
the decrease. Governments are under pressure to reduce the barriers to competitive activity in
the financial sector.
One major threat to banks is the “Internet-only” virtual banks. With low cost, one can
set up a fully-functional, Internet-only bank and provide payment services on the Internet.
For examples: Security First Net Bank (SFNB) which was formed in 1996 in the US, offer
several online services. SFNB created a software company to market the online banking
software to many banks. Other examples of virtual banks in US are (netbank.com) and First
Internet bank (fibank.com). Studies found that customers still wanted the comfort of a
physical presence.
4. ELECTRONIC DELIVERY CHANNELS
In 70’s, banks started to centralized data processing centers, using the computer and
telecommunication technologies. In 80’s, banks started technology investments for offline
and online branches. In the mid-1980’s, banks developed new products for their customers:
Credit, Debit, and other plastic cards. And brought new channels to give service to their
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customers like: ATM, POS, and IVR. In 90’s, alternative delivery channels were used:
Telephone banking, Internet banking, Mobile banking, and Television banking.
Electronic delivery channels (costing between 10 and 25 cents per transaction
compared with $1.50 to $2.50 for transactions through bank staff) provide cost reduction.
In '70s and '80s, financial customers were being led by the financial industry, while today,
financial customers are waiting for the industry to catch up to their expectation levels.
Several electronic channels were developed during the last decades [4]; the following
paragraphs describe some of these channels:
4.1 ATM
Automated Teller Machines (ATM) or 24-hour Tellers are electronic terminals that let
you bank almost any time, you generally insert an ATM card and enter your PIN. Acceptance
of ATMs was not easy at the begining even in the bank industry, today most banks customers
are using the ATM around the world.
4.2 Telephony
In the middle of 80’s, to reduce cost and get profits banks implement call centers. Call
centers automate the most basic exchanges, like requesting an account balance or making a
deposit. Transaction cost by a live agent is about 1/6th of that of the branch agent. Call
centers help to secure customers’ loyalty, ensuring that their individual needs are met by an
automated system or a live agent over the phone as quickly as possible.
4.3 POS
Point-of-Sale (POS) transfers, let you pay for purchases with a credit card, debit card,
and ATM card. POS can be used to process paper Checks as an Electronic Check. Electronic
Check Conversion converts a paper check into an electronic payment at the point of sale,
using the POS terminal. The Check should be voided or marked by the merchant so that it
can't be used again.
4.4 PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) :
E-banking enables you to perform; account enquiry, funds transfer, bill payment,
rates enquiry, and change PIN transactions through a Windows software used by PDA
devices, 24 hours a day. After registering for this service, the bank gives you a diskette and
an “Installation Guide" for downloading the PDA Security Components into your PDA to
ensure full transaction security.
4.5 Internet
Internet banking (IB) means that various banking activities conducted from home,
business, or the road using an Internet connection. Also IB known as: Cyber-banking, online
banking, e-banking, Home banking, Virtual banking, etc.
IB started in 1995 in US and Europe. Over 1,200 European financial institutions offer
Internet banking in 2000, more than twice as many as 1999. Today, all banks in USA and
most of the banks in Europe and around the word offer Internet banking.
Some of the leaders in Internet banks are: Wells Fargo in US and SEB in Europe.
Well Fargo, a US bank, claims 450,000 online customers as of Spring2000, up 50% from
1999. These two banks offer a full range of services like: banking, brokerage, mutual funds,
loans, mortgages, bill pay and presentment, and others.
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For the customers, IB is Convenient, Inexpensive, Convenient bill paying medium,
7/24 availability, paperless, and can bank from anywhere in the world. In the other side, it has
some disadvantages such as: Requirement for computer and Internet software (browser),
Need for a network connection, and Security concerns.
These disadvantages are eroding away as more and more people are starting to use
Internet and security protocols are improving.
4.6 Mobile phones
Banking activities conducted via a mobile telecommunication network, or a wireless
environment. It can be connected to the bank system via; Internet, Private communication
lines, Smart cards, or other infrastructure. The Wireless internet access service provides cost
reduction for the bank and a value added service for the customer. Wireless data services are
technically not able to achieve end-to-end security; it is breached at least at one point, at the
mobile operator premises.
Some large banks in the word provide Mobile banking, for example : Swedish Postal
Bank, Citibank, Japanese banks, Hoover’s wireless (hoover.com), ASB Bank (New Zealand),
Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, SEB in Sweden, and Arab Bank.
4.7 TV banking
TV is the latest technology used in e-banking and e-commerce area for digital content
delivery. Broadcasting the TV content in digital form provides at least 6 times capacity
savings on the allocated frequency bands of the delivery medium whether it is air, cable or
satellite. The characteristics of the Interactive TV (iTV) service consist: superior resolution,
smaller bandwidth, compatibility with the computer and Internet, and can reach varying
distances. UK is a leader in using this technology, and Digital TV commerce is catching on
in other European countries like: Holland, France and Spain.
5. IB SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
Computer capacity in banks is shared by the alternative channels of the bank.
Common architecture of the IB system contains three parts: the centralized back-end, the
middleware, and the front-end (user interface). Successful system infrastructure must provide
the following: highly robust and scalable architecture, ability to absorb additional growth,
less than one second response time, and customer availability of 99.9 percent [1, 2].
In te rn e t B a n k in g A rc h ite c tu re
S S L
F ir e w a ll
A p p lic a t io n
S e rv e rs
In t e r n e t
M id d le w a r e
s e rv e r
L A N
W e b
S e rv e rs
C S R
In tr a n e t
Figure 3: IB system architecture
16
L e g ac y
s y s te m s
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Front-end (User Interface): is what customers use to authenticate them and allow
them to interact with the IB services. This interface should be easy to use and presented in a
simple and atractive apperance to customers.
Middleware: is software, which acts as an application intermediator, enables
communication between several different applications, between an application and a
database, or between several databases. It uses messages to communicate between
applications.
Back-end: is the centralized Computing capacity in the bank, which is shared by the
alternative channels of the bank. Transactions are collected in various forms, and middleware
translate the request into a form that the transaction engine would understand, and then
executed by the back-end level.
6. SECURITY
Security is the most important issue for the financial institutions and the customers.
With electronic delivery channels, attacks are mostly technical. When considering the
security of the channels two components must be identified: the Network and the e-services.
Attacks on the network could be as a form of tapping-in and stealing data. The defense
against this is to use strong encryption techniques. Attacks on e-services could be either to
disable the services (Denial of service DoS attacks) or to logon illegally and perform
transactions or spreading viruses to corrupt data. The defense against this is to use firewalls,
strong passwords techniques, biometric techniques, and other modern authentication
techniques.
Encryption is the process of converting information into a more secure format for
transmission, and decrypted back at the receiving end of the transmission. Practically some
Security protocols are used such as: Secure Socket layer (SSL), and Standard Security
electronic transaction (SET). To check if a site is secured or not you can notice the following
point on the site:
• After inputting user-id and password, the lettering in the URL address must change
from "http" to "https.
• At the bottom of the screen, a padlock icon must appear.
• Gold seal appears somewhere on the site that reads, "VeriSign Secure Site; Click to
Verify", means the site is certified as a secure domain.
Firewalls are used to filter traffic passing into or out of the internal networks of the
bank. To prevent invasion threats, like Denial of Service (DoS) attacks, finance institutions
most commonly use: Firewalls, Anti-virus software, and Vulnerability scanners.
User-authentication technologies, allow both the sender and recipient of online
transactions to verify themselves to each other, by attaching a "digital certificate" or some
other form of digital signature. There are several user authentication techniques used such as:
public key infrastructure (PKI), user-Id and password, biometric, and other techniques.
Usually three things are used to establish authentication: Something the user knows,
something the user has, or something the user is. The last is the biometrics science: such as
Fingerprint imaging, iris-scanning and signature-reading.
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Figure 4: Security at Bank of America
7. CAPABILITIES OF IB
Visiting the websites of banks who offer the Internet banking, you will see a huge
number of online services and capabilities that are offered for the customers by these banks.
Some of these capabilities [1, 2] are:
a. General services: Get current account balances any time, obtain charge and credit card
statements, Pay bills, download account transactions, transfer money between accounts,
check balance accounts, send e-mail to the bank, handle finances when traveling, and others
services like free phone banking and waive checking fees. Figure 2, shows a lot of Internet
banking services provided by the Arab bank. This international bank provides the services in
bilingual languages such as Arabic/English languages.
b. Personal Finance services such as: bill paying, e-checks, tracking bank accounts,
Portfolio management, Investment tracking, Quotes and prices (past and current), Budget
organization, Record keeping, Tax computations, Retirement goals, planning and budgeting.
Figure 2: IB Services provided by the Arab Bank [15]
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c. Billing Online: Several billing activities are done through the IB such as:
• Automatic transfer of mortgages, the payer authorizes its bank to pay the mortgage,
including tax payments
• Automatic transfer of funds to pay monthly utility bills (automatic payment
schedules).
• Billing can be made into any bank account
• Monthly rent and other bills paid directly into the payee’s bank accounts
• A merchant-to-customer direct billing: Customers can view and pay their bill on
merchant Web site.
• Using an intermediary: A third party consolidates all bills related to each customer in
one site in a standard format.
Billing activities can be classified into B2C, B2B, or C2C. B2B services can save
businesses about 50% of billing costs. B2C save time to customer and processing cost for
payees. For customer, there is no need for writing checks and can pay bills from the road.
d. Using bank intranets
Banks provide large business customers with personalized service by allowing them
access to the bank’s intranet to access accounts, historical transactions, and intranet-based
decision-support applications.
e. Imaging systems
Allow customers to view images of all: Incoming checks, Invoices, and other related
online correspondence. Bank of America is an example of banks offers this service.
f. International e-banking
Some international retail purchasing can be done by credit card, other transactions
may require international banking support. IB systems for some banks provide international
retail purchasing, such as: Hong Kong Banks' provide this service through IB services in
Asia, and Mark Twain Bank in the U.S. uses e-cash to support trading in 20 foreign
currencies. Bank of America and other banks offer: Cash management, Foreign exchange and
trade services, and other services on an international level.
8. MANAGE THE ACCOUNTS ONLINE
To get an account and access the IB services, you have to follow the following steps [3]:
a. First you sign up for online banking with your bank, and choose which accounts you
wish to access online.
b. Then you will be given a user ID and temporary password via regular mail, e-mail or
both, with instructions on how to use them to access the secure online banking.
c. Many banks require you to change your password during your initial visit for added
security.
d. Your user ID and password are the only way to access your accounts online, so you
have to keep them in a safe place.
e. Once inside your private site, you will have access to all of the accounts that you have
registered for online banking. You can easily view your current balances, recent
deposits and payments, complete account history, and perform many e-services
offered by your bank.
f. Most sites have a financial summary page that lists all registered accounts.
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One of the services provided to you when you register an Internet banking account is
the Alerts service. Through this service you can instructs your bank to notify you via e-mail,
wireless device and also on your private banking site when a particular event occurs. Alerts
can help you better manage your accounts by raising a flag when: An account balance rises
above or drops below a certain amount, a check clears, an account becomes overdrawn, a
transfer fails, or a new statement is available.
9. IB IN THE ARAB WORLD
Today most of the Arab world banks provide the electronic financial services to their
customers through the Internet banking channels, but unfortunately the rate of usage of these
e-services from the customers' side still very weak. In this section we present some
information about the e-banking technology in the Arab world.
9.1 Case Study (Arab Bank)
In the following paragraphs we give an example of one of the Arab world banks who
provide powerful IB services.
Arab bank is one of the biggest banks in the Arab world and also is an international
bank. This bank has several international branches around the world. The Arab bank
introduced his e-banking services to the customers before more than 10 years. Through its
web site "www.arabbank.com", the bank presents "Arabi online" service which contains a
large number of e-banking services [15].
With Arabi Online IB Service, which is available in Arabic and English, the customer
can perform a lot of e-services such as:
• View balances and details of his accounts
• Get an account statement online
• Fund his accounts when balances are not sufficient to honor debit instructions
• Create future and recurring transfers
• Open new Sub Accounts
• View balances and details of his Credit Cards and settle their due amounts
• Pay to other Arab Bank Credit Cards
• Transfer funds within his accounts, within Arab Bank Jordan, or to local and
international banks
• Settle his current or future due Payments (Social Security, Electricity, Water, Zain,
Orange: Fixed, Mobile and Internet)
• Pay his bills conveniently with his Credit Card
• Subscribe to the eStatements service
• Transfer cash from his Credit Card Account to any of his personal accounts
• View the latest Foreign Currency Exchange rates
• Send secure e-mail to the Bank
• Subscribe to the eStatements Service
• Apply for other services such as: Cheque Book Request, Online Stop Cheque
payment, Balance or Interests and Commissions Certificate request, Credit Cards &
Loans, Register for “Hala Arabi” Phone Banking Service, Request to increase your
Credit Card(s) limit, enable Credit Card for Internet Purchases, and Send Special
Instructions.
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Registering for the Arabi service is an easy process. If the user is an Arab Bank Visa
Electron Cardholder and have a valid Personal Identification Number (PIN), he can directly
subscribe to the service through the website by clicking “Join” under Arabi Online on the
Homepage.
9.2 Factors affecting the adoption of e-banking services in the Arab world
Despite the advances made in e-banking field, and 10 years after its introduction in
the Middle East, internet banking continues to be challenged by poor adoption rates in
emerging markets and customer activities limited to information seeking and low value added
services [10].
Several studies [6, 7, 8, 9] focusing on this topic in the Arab world found that the poor
adoption rates for e-banking services and poor rates of usage from the customers' side referee
to several factors that affect the customers' usage of these services. In the following
paragraphs we summaries some of these factors:
• Perceived usefulness: is the degree to which a customer or user believes that using a
new technology will enhance his or her performance, and can improve and simplify their
lives. Empirical studies found that this factor has a positive effect on the adoption of
information technology.
• Perceived ease of use: is the degree to which a user believes that using a new technology
will be easy and need no complex effort. Empirical studies show that this factor is a
critical factor in the development and delivery of Internet banking services. The easier
for a user to interact with a system, the more likely he or she will find it useful. Some
studies found that this factor depends also on the knowledge of users in using computer
and internet.
• Perceived risk: is the degree to which a user believes that using new technology can
result into negative consequences to him. The main components of this factor are the
perceived security and trust toward the new technology. These components are the top
issues that inhibiting Internet Banking adoption. Many studies showed that PR is an
important factor that influences online banking adoption.
• Trust: is the heart of all kinds of relationships. It can be defined as a user's belief in a
bank's honesty toward the user, and the user's belief that online transaction will be
secured and done in a correct way. Recent research indicates that trust has a critical
influence on customer usage of IB services. Trust can be defined in terms of the
individual’s perception of: the security of the system; the service provider’s reputation;
loss of privacy; and concerns about risks associated with the reliability of IB.
• Security: is the degree to which the web site guarantees the safety and privacy of
customer financial and personal information. Empirical studies showed that security and
privacy is a main factor that influences customers in using e-services.
• Design of the web site: this means how the information and contents organized and
presented to the customer through a user interface. Features of the web site such as:
speed, content, design, format, accuracy, ease of use, and security all influence customer
usage of the e-services.
• Demographic characteristics: this means characteristics of the users such as: age,
gender, educational level, income level, etc. some studies showed that user
characteristics influence the usage of the e-banking services. For example users who
have good knowledge of computer and internet are using the e-services more than others.
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9.3 Recommendations to increase IB adoption
To reduce the effects of the above factors on adoption of IB services and attract
customers to be more active in using e-services, banks need to focus on these factors and try
to perform some steps in enhancing the quality of their e-services and encourage customers to
be more active in using them. According to several studies in this area for the Arab world we
can mention here some good recommendation for the managers of the IB services to
consider:
•
•
•
•
•
Banks should build an easy to use bilingual website with contents compatible with the
customers' needs. To achieve this goal complexity in the user interfaces must be
reduced to suite different types of customers according to customer age, gender,
education level, etc. Software engineers have to develop more user friendly software
that can be easily used by different types of users especially by those who have lack
of Internet and computer experience.
Website Designers of e-banking services should focus on designing a simple and
useful bilingual website that attracts customers to navigate through it. Simplicity of
the site can be achieved by reducing technical terms, include appropriate and accurate
information with graphics, provide ease of navigation, fast loading speed, good
security and privacy techniques, etc.
Trust is one of the important influential factors, and controlling the risk of online
banking is more important than providing benefits. IB managers need to search for
risk-reducing strategies that might assist in providing high confidence and trust for
customers. They need to consider focusing on the prevention of intrusion, fraud and
identity theft.
IB managers should develop and present a powerful privacy and security policies that
increase the customers trust and confidence in using the e-services. They should
increase familiarity through advertising and offer statements of guarantee and longterm customer service.
Banks need to highlight the benefits and capabilities of its IB services. Banks need to
offer for their customers an easy to use website, powerful security and privacy
statements, compatible contents to customers' needs and other capabilities in the site
to encourage customers to use the IB services. This can be highlighted through the
banks promotional and advertising activities.
10. DISCUSSION
Globally, the financial sector is changing under the impact of competitive, regulatory
and technological forces. In '70s and '80s, financial customers were being led by the financial
industry, while Today, financial customers are waiting for the industry to catch up to their
expectation levels. Today, IB is being considered as a strategic tool by the global banking
sector, to remain competitive and retain customers. Most of the banks around the world offer
fully secure, fully functional online banking for free or for a small fee.
IB offer for customers a huge number of online banking services as we see in section
7 above. Customers can perform these services and their banking activities from any place
and at any time. In addition to the current IB services and capabilities, in future it seems that
Banks services will be enhanced and increased to include new features such as:
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No Geographic Barriers: Customers will choose banking services on the basis of price
considerations, not just from banks located near the customer's home or work place.
• New Competitors: Non-bank competitors are increasing, and offering several products
such as: credit cards, mortgages, auto loans and some investment and savings
products. So customers could bank on a product-by-product basis.
• New Competitive Strategies: Some banks start using small but high-tech branch
structure, at supermarket chains. Example: Banking kiosks.
• Speech recognition: is a technology that banks start using it through thier banking
channels, and the usage of this technolgy will be increased.
• Virtual banks: the future will rely more on people and technology, and less on
physical location. People will phone or e-mail an expert rather than talk face-to-face
with a local teller.
• Data mining: Banks are starting to collect customers information into data
warehouses, so they can target certain customer segments for new product and
services offerings.
• Biometrics: new authentication technology for banking security. Banks start using this
technolgy and it take place in the banking services. Biometrics techniques such as
Fingerprint, face, and voice recognition can be considered in the IB systems. In
addition techniques like retina, iris, and hand scanning can be considered in different
banking channels.
• Mobile Banking (m-banking): development in the Internet and groth in using wireless
devices such as cell phones, PDAs, pagers and other unwired access devices driving
the financial industry to support wireless device access, to serve their customers.
In the Arab world, today most of the Arab world banks provide the electronic
financial services to their customers through the Internet banking channels, but unfortunately
the rate of usage of these e-services from the customers' side still very weak. Many factors as
presented in section 8.2 above affects the adoption and usage of IB technology in the Arab
world.
To encourage customers for using IB services, Banks managers have to perform a set
of steps to enhance their IB services. We discussed and presented some of these steps in
section 8.3 above.
•
11. CONCLUSION
Banks are being forced to change rapidly as a result of forces such as threat of
competition, customer demand, and technological innovations. IB becomes a necessity
strategic tool for banks to remain competitive in the market, and provide integrated value
added services for the customer.
In the foregoing pages we have discussed some aspects of IB, discussed and presented
the adoption of this technology in the Arab world. We can say, it is hard to imagine a bank
without the IB technology. However, technological advancement are and will continue
impact the banking environment, to make existing channels more efficient and support
creating new channels like M-banking and T-banking.
In the Arab world, IB technology introduced before more than 10 years, but
unfortunately the usage of it from the customer side still very weak. Arab banks need to
perform good efforts to enhance their IB services and encourage customers to be more active
in using these services.
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- 13. International Journal of Information Technology & Management Information System (IJITMIS), ISSN
0976 – 6405(Print), ISSN 0976 – 6413(Online) Volume 4, Issue 3, September - December (2013), © IAEME
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