The world has turned into a Global village. Internet is now becoming the fastest mean of communication and is rapidly spreading all over in the world. Even the internet banking has now become an essential part of everyday life. Internet banking or Online banking let clients to carry out financial transactions on a protected website controlled by their retail or virtual bank. It provides a rapid and convenient way of carrying out common banking just with the help of a computer having access to the internet and a registered account for the internet banking. Internet banking allows to access your account from anywhere in the world whether it be your home or a different country. The early 1980’s distant banking services over electronic media are the forerunner of the modern internet banking. Banking through phone lines became popular in the late 80’s which then referred to the use of a visual display unit. The online services started in New York in 1981 when the major banks of the city offered home banking using videotext system but due to the failure of this technology it was never accepted there except in France and UK as the use of Minitel was financially supported by the telecom provider over there.
The Bank of Scotland was the first one to set up online banking services in 1983. The system they used was based on the UK’s Prestel system but with the addition of a computer connected to a telephone system. It was known as Home-Link system. In order to make transfers and payments a written instruction giving information about the intended recipient had to be sent to the NBS who set up the details on the Home-link system. In short it was a detailed process so BACS (Banks Automated Clearing System) was later used to transfer the payment directly. Now, Internet banking enables its customers to check their balances and statements online. Submit application for accounts, credit cards or loans. Transfer funds between accounts. Customers can even pay their bills of credit cards, and insurance payments. Ask for cheque books and check the status of their cheques. They can even request to stop the cheque payments. Not only these, but many other tasks could be performed via Internet banking.
Though, Internet banking is promptly dispersing worldwide. Today, many banks are internet only banks. Contrasting their precursors, these Internet only banks do not sustain brick and mortar bank branches. Instead, they usually discriminate themselves by offering better interest rates and online banking qualities. Unfortunately even it is not free from scams and scammers. Some scams are especially designed to take advantage of the popularity of Internet banking and other online transactions that are commonly made by the customers. Security through single password verification, in most secure Internet shopping sites, is not considered to be secure enough for personal online banking applications in some countries. However by taking some simple safety measures, we can take an active role in reducing the chance of being a victim of scams.
Tips and comments:
It is advisable to go for online banking because it is very convenient, timeless and hassle free. For the transactions you don’t need to go to your parent branch where your account is being maintained. Systematically it should be introduced by all the banks around the globe for their customers so that they can make their transactions in urgent situations conveniently.
