The development of online banking has been similar in recent years to that of new technologies. Undoubtedly, online banking offers advantages to customers (for example, the possibility of ordering transactions without having to visit a bank branch —sending transfers, returning direct debits, paying taxes, requesting cheque or promissory note books, etc.—, as well as being able to consult their lists of transactions or specific transactions, which has led to the traditional duty of institutions to actively supply information has become, in certain cases, an obligation to simply make the information available to customers, which is adequately reflected, for example, in the regulation of payment services).
Online banking also offers advantages to institutions, since it reduces the congestion of the branch network, which can be focused on more commercial aspects with a less administrative burden.
Digitization also poses significant risks for credit institutions, while offering them opportunities to improve efficiency and generate new business. Still, it is difficult to predict exactly how digitization will change the banking business and market structure.[1]
On the other hand, there are disadvantages that can materialize in the appearance of other risks inherent to digital operation that should be taken into account, such as phishing and cybercrime.
Phishing consists of the receipt by the client of a banking institution of an alleged official electronic communication of its institution, generally an email, in which, with the excuse of improving the security of their accounts, they are invited to click on a link included in the text and that, if clicked, will lead to a false web page that impersonates the original web pages of financial institutions, where your electronic banking access codes will be requested. The customer can also receive a phone call or an SMS message requesting the codes. In all cases, it should be clear that a financial institution never requests the access codes from its clients.
On the other hand, although the advances that have been made in terms of security in recent years have been more than remarkable, the very nature of the Internet, which is the medium through which deals and financial transactions can be carried out, makes the security has to be taken into account rather than as a disadvantage as a potential risk of operating through online banking.
Another disadvantage for institutions that provide services through online banking is the reluctance of certain layers of the population to operate through these channels.
[1]Enria, A. (2019): “A binary future? How digitalization might change banking ”, Speech by Andrea Enria, Chair of the Supervisory Board of the ECB, at the Banking Seminar organized by De Nederlandsche Bank, Amsterdam, 11 March”.
