Some analysts argue that Internet banking is revolutionizing the banking industry. Others see the Internet as simply adding another delivery channel for remote banking to existing channels such as automated teller machines (ATMs) and telephone banking. As with other areas of e-commerce, discussions about Internet banking often proceed without reference to the actual state of market developments. While Internet banking is the subject of a large amount of industry discussion, it remains the case that only a small percentage of banking transactions are done online, and only about a third of all banks currently offer online savings. Nevertheless, the adoption of Internet banking by banks has grown at a very rapid pace, and many banks, including some of the nation’s largest institutions, have made the development of services over the Internet a major component of their business and marketing strategy.
Despite popular impressions, and the rapid growth in the number of banks offering online banking since the beginning of the “Internet era” in financial services several years ago, a minority of banks in the United States offered transactional Internet banking as 2001 began. For purposes of this article, we define a bank as offering “transactional” Internet banking if it provides the ability for bank customers to transact business (e.g. access accounts and transfer funds, apply for an account or a loan). By “Internet bank” we mean any bank offering Internet banking, including, but not limited to, “Internet-only” banks.
Internet banking is a subject receiving great attention in the banking industry and the regulatory community. To some extent, the intense interest in Internet banking reflects a more general interest in the role of the Internet as a vehicle for commercial activity. However, interest in Internet banking may be particularly keen since a strong case can be made that banking, along with other financial services, provides a particularly fertile environment for the development of e-commerce. At its core, banking and money market account involves the collection, storage, transfer and processing of information assets, and the Internet is an incredibly powerful and efficient tool for handling these information processes.
