What
is online banking?
Most
banks and scores of smaller institutions will soon be letting
customer’s ‘bank by browser.’
This allows them to make financial transactions over the
Internet.
What
are the advantages of online banking?
With
an online bank connection customers are offered rapid approval on
mortgages, auto loans, securities trading and so on. Individual users
can pay bills, transfer money from one account to another, check
balances, Email customer service and do almost everything, except get
cash, and from the comfort of their own home.
How
much does online banking cost?
Currently
you can expect to spend approximately £9 per month for online banking
services. However as more
and more competitors enter this growing market, expect prices to fall
in the coming months and years.
Smarts
cards are like credit cards which may eventually help to turn PC’s
into automated teller machines (ATM’s or hole in the walls) although
your computer won’t be able to spit out cold currency, smart cards
may digitally sort the electronically equivalent download via yours
PC.
Will
all this catch on?
On-line
banking has been tried before but the technology was basic and this
led to transactions being slow and tedious.
Today however, the
technology,
I’m pleased to say, is fast enough to cope with the transactions and
in the next year alone we can expect to see another 50 new Internet
based providers and a number of existing banks hope to broaden their
on-line fare. If on-line
banking does gain a foothold and all early indications suggest that it
will, E-money or E-cash could become the next new ‘buzzword’ for
the computer industry.
