Online banking
Online banking, also known as internet banking, digital banking, virtual banking, web banking or home banking, is a system that enables customers of a bank or other financial institution to view a range of financial transactionss through the financial institution's website or mobile app. Since the early 2010s, this has become the most common way that customers access their bank accounts.
The online banking system will typically connect to or be part of the core banking system operated by a bank to provide customers access to banking services in addition to or in place of historic branch banking. Online banking significantly reduces the banks' operating cost by reducing reliance on a physical branch network and offers convenience to some customers by lessening the need to visit a bank branch as well as being able to perform banking transactions even when branches are closed, for example outside the conventional banking hours or at weekends and on holidays.
Internet banking provides personal and corporate banking services offering features such as making electronic payments, viewing account balances, obtaining statements, checking recent transactions and transferring money between accounts.
Some banks operate as a "direct bank" or "neobank" that operate entirely via the internet or internet and telephone without having any physical branches relying completely on their online banking facilities.
History
Precursors
The precursor to the modern online banking services was distance banking electronically and by telephone since the early 1980s. The term 'online' became popular in the late 1980s and referred to the use of a terminal, keyboard, and TV or monitor to access the banking system using a phone lines.Emergence of computer banking
The first home banking service was offered to consumers in December 1980 by United American Bank, a community bank with headquarters in Knoxville, Tennessee. United American partnered with Radio Shack to produce a secure custom modem for its TRS-80 computer that allowed bank customers to access their account information securely. Services available in its first years included bill pay, account balance checks, and loan applications, as well as game access, budget and tax calculators and daily newspapers. Thousands of customers paid $25–30 per month for the service.Large banks, many working on parallel tracks to United American, followed in 1981 when four of New York's major banks offered home banking services, using the videotex system. Because of the commercial failure of videotex, these banking services never became popular except in France and the UK, where the Prestel system was used.
The first videotext banking service in France was launched on December 20, 1983, by CCF Bank. Videotext online Banking services eventually reached 19% market share by 1991
The developers of United American Bank's first-to-market computer banking system aimed to license it nationally, but they were overtaken by competitors when United American failed in 1983 as a result of loan fraud on the part of bank owner Jake Butcher, the 1978 Tennessee Democratic nominee for governor and promoter of the 1982 Knoxville World's Fair. First Tennessee Bank, which purchased the failed bank, did not attempt to develop or commercialize the computer banking platform.
Internet and customer reluctance and banking
"When the clicks-and-bricks euphoria hit in the late 1990s, many banks began to view web-based banking as a strategic imperative." In 1996 OP Financial Group, a cooperative bank, became the second online bank in the world and the first in Europe. The attraction of online banking is fairly obvious: diminished transaction costs, easier integration of services, interactive marketing capabilities, and other benefits that boost customer lists and profit margins. Additionally, online banking services allow institutions to bundle more services into single packages, thereby luring customers and minimizing overhead.In 1995, Wells Fargo was the first U.S. bank to add account services to its website, with other banks quickly following suit. That same year, Presidential became the first U.S. bank to open bank accounts over the internet. According to research by Online Banking Report, at the end of 1999 less than 0.4% of households in the U.S. were using online banking. At the beginning of 2004, some 33 million U.S. households were using some form of online banking. Five years later, 47% of Americans used online banking, according to a survey by Gartner Group. Meanwhile, in the UK online banking grew from 63% to 70% of internet users between 2011 and 2012.
By 2018, the number of digital banking users in the U.S. reached approximately 61 percent. The penetration of online banking in Europe has been increased as well. In 2019, 93 percent of the Norwegian population access online banking sites, which is the highest in Europe, followed by Denmark and Netherlands. Across Asia, more than 700 million consumers are estimated to use digital banking regularly, according to a 2015 survey by McKinsey and Company.
By 2000, 80% of U.S. banks offered e-banking. Customer use grew slowly. At Bank of America, for example, it took 10 years to acquire 2 million e-banking customers. However, a significant cultural change took place after the Y2K scare ended.
In 2001, Bank of America became the first bank to top 3 million online banking customers, more than 20% of its customer base. In comparison, larger national institutions, such as Citigroup claimed 2.2 million online relationships globally, while J.P. Morgan Chase estimated it had more than 750,000 online banking customers. Wells Fargo had 2.5 million online banking customers, including small businesses. Online customers proved more loyal and profitable than regular customers. In October 2001, Bank of America customers executed a record 3.1 million electronic bill payments, totaling more than $1 billion. As of 2017, the bank has 34 million active digital accounts, both online and mobile. In 2009, a report by Gartner Group estimated that 47% of United States adults and 30% in the United Kingdom bank online.
The early 2000s saw the rise of the branch-less banks as internet only institutions. These internet-based banks incur lower overhead costs than their brick-and-mortar counterparts. In the United States, deposits at some direct banks are FDIC-insured and offer the same level of insurance protection as traditional banks. Neobanks are branch-less banks in the United States which are not FDIC-insured.
First online banking services by region
The United Kingdom
Online banking started in the United Kingdom with the launch of Nottingham Building Society 's Homelink service in September 1982, initially on a restricted basis, before it was expanded nationally in 1983. Homelink was delivered through a partnership with the Bank of Scotland and British Telecom's Prestel service. The system used Prestel viewlink system and a computer, such as the BBC Micro, or keyboard connected to the telephone system and television set. The system allowed users to "transfer money between accounts, pay bills and arrange loans... compare prices and order goods from a few major retailers, check local restaurant menus or real estate listings, arrange vacations... enter bids in Homelink's regular auctions and send electronic mail to other Homelink users." In order to make bank transfers and bill payments, a written instruction giving details of the intended recipient had to be sent to the NBS who set the details up on the Homelink system. Typical recipients were gas, electricity and telephone companies and accounts with other banks. Details of payments to be made were input into the NBS system by the account holder via Prestel. A cheque was then sent by NBS to the payee and an advice giving details of the payment was sent to the account holder. BACS was later used to transfer the payment directly.The United States
In the United States in-home banking was "is still in its infancy" with banks "cautiously testing consumer interest" in 1984, a year after online banking went national in the UK. At the time Chemical Bank in New York was "still working out the bugs from its service, which offers somewhat limited features". The service from Chemical, called Pronto, was launched in 1983 and was aimed at individuals and small businesses. It enabled them to maintain electronic checkbook registers, see account balances, and transfer funds between checking and savings accounts. The other three major banks — Citibank, Chase Bank and Manufacturers Hanover — started to offer home banking services soon after. Chemical's Pronto failed to attract enough customers to break even and was abandoned in 1989. Other banks had a similar experience.Since it first appeared in the United States, online banking has been federally governed by the Electronic Funds Transfer Act of 1978.
France
After a test period with 2,500 users starting in 1984, online banking services were launched in 1988, using Minitel terminals that were distributed freely to the population by the government. By 1990, 6.5 million Minitels were installed in households. Online banking was one of the most popular services.Online banking services later migrated to the Internet.