Initially, banks on the Internet created only simple information pages containing a presentation of their offer, information about their address, or a contact phone number. Later, the first services appeared, such as information about account balances. However, the breakthrough was brought by online bank branches, where financial operations such as transfer orders, payment orders, and opening term deposits could be carried out. The share of online accounts in the total number of accounts maintained by banks is constantly growing.
E-banks are becoming increasingly popular
Both banks operating exclusively via the Internet and traditional banks offering the possibility of remote account management are recording the growing popularity of online accounts. There are several reasons for this phenomenon. One is certainly the development of telecommunications services allowing easy access to the Internet, and changes in the mentality of Poles also allow them to reach for new forms of banking services. The banks themselves also play a part, encouraging the use of electronic banking by appropriately composing tables of fees and commissions – so that operations performed via the Internet are cheaper than the same ones performed at a bank counter.
A survey conducted by Pentor in July 2004 shows that about 20 percent of bank customers complain about long waiting times for service at the counter, exceeding 15 minutes. 4 percent of respondents encountered a lack of kindness from bank employees, while 2 percent of those surveyed felt that they were merely a troublesome, unnecessary petitioner to the bank. In Internet banking, all these problems do not exist for a very simple reason – the customer does not need to contact bank staff to perform standard operations; they perform the transactions themselves. On the other hand, purely Internet banks cannot count on a fairly significant group of customers. A survey conducted by PBS shows that about 60 percent of respondents would not be willing to use Internet banking, and the main reason for this is a lack of trust in a bank that one cannot see and cannot visit in person.
The article comes from the magazine “e-Fakty” 3/2005.