Technology has touched every aspect of human life and one of its positive impacts is Banking Technology.
Years ago, many people would not have imagined that a day would come when you do not have to walk down to a physical bank to open an account or join the queue to collect money over the counter or anticipate the approval of a loan with bated breath. These and many more are the positive impacts of technology when it comes to banking. From the comfort of one’s home now, you can lodge your complaint to a bank by texting customer support on social media platforms or sending an email. Not to delve in too deep but the backend structure too comes with a little more ease than before. We can only imagine how they struggled with customers’ data storage.
Mobile banking
Mobile banking is the use of mobile devices to carry out services that are provided by the bank.
Services offered via mobile banking
- Access to Account information
- Investments
- Transactions
- Support services
- Content and news
Retail banking
This is also known as consumer banking. It involves all the processes involved in rendering financial services to individual consumers. As opposed to the provision of banking services to businesses, organisations, or other banks which are known as wholesale banking, retail banking caters to the everyday person. This is why it is called consumers’ banking. Some of the services retail banking renders include:
- Provision of transaction cards. E.g Credit cards, debit cards, Dollar cards, etc.
- Issuance of Traveller’s cheques.
- Issuance of Certificate of Deposit.
- Provision of credit facilities. E.g Personal loans.
- Provision of accounts. E.g Savings account, Current account, etc.
Types of Retail Banking
Credit Union: This type of retail banking caters to its members. It is a type of cooperative in the area of finances that provides traditional banking services. Members own and operate the union so they are not as connected as traditional banks but they offer better interest rates than banks.
Commercial Bank: This is the most common type of retail banking. Commercial Bank services include accepting deposits, cashing out cheques, providing loans, etc.
Savings Bank: Just as the name says, most of the services offered in the bank revolve around saving. Customers are assisted to cultivate a healthy saving habits.
Community Development Bank: Just like the name, it operates on a community scale. It is privately owned and it helps to promote financial inclusion.
Offshore Bank: This type of bank is regulated under an international banking license. Due to the nature of this type of bank, it is mostly used to stash away funds that the source is not declarable.
Private Bank: This type of retail banking is offered to High Net-Worth Individual (HNWI) customers. The services include estate planning, managing investments, portfolios, insurance, etc.
Postal Savings Bank: Although this type is not as common as the rest because it is somewhere in between modernisation and traditional, it is still in existence in some parts of the world. In this case, the post office serves as some sort of bank branch where financial services are carried out. Their services include Cashing out cheques, processing bills, safekeeping of money, etc.
Online banking
Online banking is banking via the internet. It allows users to conduct financial transactions using the web. Almost every service provided by traditional banks is provided in this type of banking. Most traditional banks these days offer some form of online banking. There are also some banks whose activities are restricted to just online, they do not have any physical structure.
Users do not need to go to the bank, all they need include a stable internet connection, a device that can access the internet, and other prerequisites for the bank’s KYC (Know Your Customer) information. After all is said and done, the customer needs to create a strong password to secure their account to avoid being defrauded.
Services offered via Online banking
- Opening of new bank accounts
- Application for Credit
- Bills payment
- Card requests, etc.
In conclusion, as there are pros, there are also cons but most times, the pros outweigh the cons. The favourable impact of this technology has made the cons negligible. Overall though, nothing beats the convenience banking technology has to offer.
