History of Internet Banking

 Internet Banking  No Responses »
Nov 092011
 

What is Internet Banking

Internet banking can be defined as a facility provided by banking and financial institutions, that enable the user to execute bank related transactions through Internet. The biggest advantage of Internet banking is that people can expend the services sitting at home, to transact business. Due to which, the account holder does not have to personally visit the bank. With the help of Internet banking many transactions can be executed by the account holder. When small transactions like balance inquiry, record of recent transaction, etc. are to be processed, the Internet banking facility proves to be very handy. The concept of Internet banking has thus become a revolution in the field of banking and finance.

History of Internet Banking

The concept of Internet banking has been simultaneously evolving with the development of the world wide web. Programmers working on banking data bases came up with ideas for online banking transactions, some time during the 1980s. The creative process of development of these services were probably sparked off after many companies started the concept of online shopping. The online shopping promoted the use of credit cards through Internet. Many banking organizations had already started creating data ware housing facilities to ease their working staffs. The development of these databases were widely used during the development of ATM’s.

Sometime in 1980s, banking and finance organizations in Europe and United States started suggestive researches and programming experiments on the concept of ‘home banking’. Initially in the 80′s when computers and Internet were not so well-developed, ‘home banking’ basically made use of fax machines and telephones to facilitate their customers. The widespread of Internet and programming facilities created further opportunities for development of home banking.

In 1983, the Nottingham Building Society, commonly abbreviated and referred to as the NBS, launched the first Internet banking service in United Kingdom. This service formed the basis for most of the Internet banking facilities that followed. This facility was not very well-developed and restricted the number of transactions and functions that account holders could execute. The facility introduced by Nottingham Building Society is said to have been derived from a system known as Prestel, that is deployed by the postal service department of United Kingdom.

The first online banking service in United States was introduced, in October 1994. The service was developed by Stanford Federal Credit Union, which is a financial institution. The online banking services are becoming more and more prevalent due to the well-developed systems. Though there are pros and cons of electronic cash technology, it has become a revolution that is enhancing the banking sector.

 Posted by at 11:43 am  Tagged with:

Internet Banking Security

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Nov 072011
 

Internet Banking Security

The most important part for ensuring security while banking online, is to keep your password and pin number a secret. The information pertaining to the pin number of your Internet bank account and the password should not be disclosed to any unknown individual. It is also important to change your password at regular intervals. Besides this, do not respond to any e-mail or telephone call inquiring about the details of your card or card number, as no bank will contact you directly for information about your card.

The security of your personal computer is very important for safe Internet banking. Therefore, always install antivirus software and software to remove spyware. Spyware can obtain information from your computer without your knowledge or consent and spread it on the net. This can compromise the security of your computer and allow hackers to access your Internet bank account for carrying out unauthorized and criminal transactions. Also install updated versions of the operating system you are using. You can also install firewalls, that can protect your computer from crackers by creating a barrier between your computer and the Internet or network.

Checking your bank statements regularly will help you detect any transaction that has taken place without your knowledge. Any unknown transaction can indicate that someone might have access to your Internet bank account. You need to be more vigilant while accessing the Internet from someone’s computer or from an Internet cafe.

While banking through the Internet, make sure that the banking session is secure. You will often get indicators like presence of ‘https://’ in the URL. Sometimes, a digital certificate can be viewed if you click on a certain key displayed in the window. In addition, always remember to completely log off, after completing the banking session. If you do not log off properly, the banking session may not be closed, which can enable the crackers to acquire details about your Internet banking.

Nowadays, the banking institutions have come up with a number of safety measures for ensuring secure Internet banking. Therefore, before conducting any financial transaction with banks through the Internet, you can evaluate these security measures. Always beware of those mails that extend some lucrative offers for making easy money. Do not disclose any private information, especially related to your Internet banking, unless you are sure about the authenticity of such organizations. So, following some simple and easy precautionary measures, you can ward off the threat posed by vicious crackers to the security of your Internet bank account.

 Posted by at 11:41 am  Tagged with:

What is Internet Banking

 Internet Banking  No Responses »
Nov 052011
 

Internet banking is used widely by masses, and has numerous benefits to offer. Nowadays, all banks provide online banking facility to their customers as an added advantage. Gone are the days, when one had to transact with a bank which was only in his local limits. Online banking has opened the doors for all customers, to operate beyond boundaries. Nowadays, people are so busy in their work lives, that they don’t even have time to go to the bank for conducting their banking transactions. Internet banking enable people to carry out most of their banking transactions using a safe website, which is operated by their respective banks. It provides many features and functions to their customers, and enables them to view their account balance, transfer money from their account to another account (be it in their respective bank or any other bank), view their account summary, etc.

In this procedure, many financial transactions can be carried out by simply utilizing a computer with an Internet connection. The necessary things that a person needs for using online banking are, an active bank account with balance in it for transactions, debit or a credit card number, customer’s user ID, bank account number, the Internet banking PIN number, and a PC with access to the web. People using Internet banking are certainly benefited by the online services their respective banks are providing them with. The primary reason why it is so famous and mostly used is that, customers are allowed to bank at non-working hours.

Banks create their banking interfaces and websites in a viewable and user-friendly manner, which enable customers to conduct their financial transactions with ease. If they are stuck in any process while performing their online transactions, banks have another helpful facility that is ‘phone banking’, wherein customers can call the bank’s toll-free number and get assistance in completing their transactions. Electronic bill payment, viewing and downloading financial records, and money transfers are some of the general transactions which the customers generally carry out. All online banking services, provided by some banks, are free of cost.
When a customer views the bank’s website, there are many options available, but to execute those transactions, he would obligatorily need to log into his virtual account. Without logging in, he won’t be allowed to carry out any kind of the transactions. Initially, when he opens an account with the bank, the bank gives a welcome kit which contains important documents that include the checkbook; a document on which the customer’s user ID, online banking password, phone banking password, and account number is embedded. The kit also contains some other confidential data, the credit or debit card, and the card details. The website will prompt the user to enter the necessary details like the Internet banking password and account number, and then will display his account information. In this stage, he can carry out all functions that are available on the website.

With regards to the password authentication and encryption, high security is maintained, as there is a chance of hackers getting unauthorized access to the customer’s account and performing malpractices. However, banks keep their online security systems up-to-date to prevent such scenarios. Moreover, banks also suggest their customers to keep on changing passwords periodically. They also implement some security measures like using unique login IDs, transaction codes, using two passwords, security tokens which generate automatically changing passwords, etc.

The Internet banking facilities provided by banks differ from bank to bank, and country to country. To know all online banking services and processes, one has to thoroughly refer to the guides which were made available in the welcome kit. Moreover, proper care has to be taken regarding the confidential documents as, Internet banking frauds are on an increase.

 Posted by at 11:39 am  Tagged with:
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