FAQs on Internet Banking

Banking is no longer confined to the traditional brick and mortar branches. Customers are being provided with multiple modes of accessing banking transactions, including Mobile Banking, banking through ATM and Point of Sales terminals and now Internet Banking.

What is Internet banking?
Internet Banking is a means by which customers can manage their bank accounts and conduct real time banking transactions electronically over the Internet. Internet Banking gives customers the control over nearly every aspect of managing their bank accounts. Besides, the customers can check balances, see cheques status, transfer money from one account to another account, view transaction history and impor­tantly avoid going to an actual bank. In addition, the customer can also use Internet Banking to pay bills to service providers and also shop online.

What are the advantages of going in for Internet banking?
The advantages are many. First, there is round-the-clock, real time access. And second, one can access the bank from anywhere in the world at one's own convenience.

What are the requirements for accessing Internet banking?
The user will first need to open an account with the bank providing Internet Banking and register for the online banking facility; thereafter the bank will pro­vide the customer a unique personal password or Per­sonal Identification Number (PIN) to log into the internet banking site. There on, the customer will simply re­quire a computer and an internet access to avail the service. No additional software will be required to avail Internet Banking.

How is it actually done?
The user needs to be online and visit the bank's web site on the Internet. Then the user will have to click onto the Internet Banking section. The personal password supplied by the bank enables the user to access the bank and do any required transaction. Some banks even provides demo in their web site, to famil­iarize first-time user with Internet Banking.

What type of transactions or operations can be undertaken?
A user will be allowed to perform a vast range of trans­actions; some of these are as follows:

• Account information.
• Funds transfer.
• Online real-time payment for shopping done on Internet.
• Requests and intimations.
• Contacting/communicating with the accounts or relationship manager.
• Electronic bill payment towards utility bills.
• For business users, they can also initiate issu­ance of Bank Guarantee, Letter of Credit etc.
  

Can funds be transferred from one bank to another on-line?
Some bank has this facility and but most of the banks does not support it. But all banks can transfer funds among the various branches of the bank.

What are the safety tips I need to remember?
Online users would be safe with Internet Banking, if they abide by these rules and other online banking guidance and safety tips as provided by the bank pro­viding Internet Banking. Some safety tips are as fol­lows:

• Users will need to read the bank's web site privacy policy and fully understand and satisfy with the policy before using the internet banking site.
• Bank providing Internet Banking should provide safe­guards to protect personal information from being accessed by unauthorized persons. Online users should ensure these security mechanism are in place.
• Secure method of sending information back and forth
• Scrambled or encrypted information
• Firewall
• Password protection
• Automatic sign off after a certain period of inactivity
• If someone contacts a user via e-mail or the internet and claims to be a representative from their bank, the user by no means should give them any infor­mation. If such instances occur, the bank should be immediately contacted.
• When choosing a password, the user should avoid using easily available information like the user's mother's maiden name, birth date, the last four dig­its of the user's passport number or phone number, or a series of consecutive numbers etc. User needs to use their judgment to have a difficult password at all time and frequently change them. Password should always be heavily guarded and not disclosed to anyone, anytime.

What is e-commerce and what are its current capabilities?
E-commerce is making payments electronically. Here both the buyer and the seller will require opening an account with the bank providing Internet Banking. For availing the products/services of the seller/supplier, the buyer will make payment online and the seller will be notified instantly on such payment either through emails or SMS.

The same concept applies to online shopping, wherein the retail customer of the bank will visit the website of the online shopping portal, chose a product as displayed in the online portal and at the time of making payments, the online shopper will log into the Internet Banking website of the bank and make such payments. Electronic payment through internet is slowly expected to decrease the usage of the conventionally used system of making payments through cheques.

Can one access bank accounts through a mobile phone?
Yes, one can access banking through the SMS Banking services of the bank. SMS stands for Short Messaging Service. In SMS technology, one has to key in certain predefined "keywords", as instructed by the bank, to access the services. As the keyword is entered, the cellular service provider connects the customer to the bank, which in turn, will flash the required information on the cellular phone screen.

Unlike SMS Banking, in WAP-enabled mobile bank­ing, one actually logs on to the bank's website, as in Internet Banking and avails the full services as pro­vided by the Internet Banking.

M-commerce is the new revolution

The last century saw tremendous innovations in the realm of technology. The last decade found us communicating with each other through internet, the most popular words being- 'www' and '.com'. The trend is very likely to continue as consumers demand more and faster technology. There is a burning desire in people to be free.

The internet has changed the way of dialogue not only at our homes but also in business circles. It has been overcome by some limitations though, like waiting time to download, problem with networks, downtime from broken communication lines, which has meant a turnoff for the users.
All this is about to change. If E-Commerce was a slow evolutionary process, the conversion from E-Commerce to M-Commerce would be rapid.

Mobile commerce, commonly referred to as m-commerce, is the new 'in' thing. A mobile phone can now do much more than just call someone. The small screen of mobile phone can provide a bewildering amount of information.

Third generation telephony would provide easy access to the web and all its components. It facilitates the carrying out of transactions like shopping and banking, air ticket reservation, payment of bills of utilities like electricity boards, phone companies and municipal corporations etc. using devices like mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), palmtops etc. Compared to the cost of transactions through a bank or an ATM, the cost of transaction through a mobile phone is less.

One service that m-commerce gives is the mobile search service.
One such company is PCCW of Hong Kong. PCCW utilizes an experienced and diverse management team, which features substantial experience in the fields of telecommunications and integrated communications businesses.

Smart Search is a service provided to cell phone subscribers of PCCW. Similar services are provided by DoCoMo's i-Mode in Japan. Some of the services of it are as follows.

The Shopping guide: Addresses and telephone numbers of the favorite shops in the major shopping malls in Hong Kong are provided with a supporting search engine.

Maps and Transport: Digital maps show detailed guides of local routes and stops of the major public transportation systems.

Ticketing: Movie tickets can be ordered online and the airline tickets can also be available at the press of a button wherever the subscribers are. Cellular phone replaces the credit card.

News and reports: Fast access to global news, local updated traffic conditions, the air pollution index, UV index and weather reports are provided continuously.

Gambling: You can legally gamble on horse racing in Hong Kong from any location through your mobile.

Personalized movie service: Updates on the latest movies with related information including movie category, casting, and show times. Also, subscribers can search for their own favorite movies by entering the name of the movie or the name of the movie theatre.

So such services given by PCCW help customers immensely. Moreover it goes much beyond that. Such service models through the mobile means that one no longer needs to be near a computer to send and receive information. If you have PDA or smartphone in hand, you have the whole world with you; you can connect with the internet to check stock prices, sports scores and variety of other activities even while you are on the move. A whole field called telematics involves placing wireless Internet-connected computers in the dashboards of cars and making more home appliances wireless so that they can be used anywhere in or near the home.

There is a lot of potential in m-commerce that can be tapped to change the way we do business. But the real revolution is yet to come. At the moment the technology used is not up to the mark. Advanced technologies like GPRS (Global Packet Radio Service) and 3G are still not in use as adequate bandwidth is not available. The cost involved is still high. Although airtime rates have been coming down, the biggest block for m-commerce to take off is high cost of handsets, palmtops and PDA's.Currently, m-commerce is being used in exchanging e-mails and messages rather than conducting serious business. The transition from e-commerce to m-commerce is in the making.