Written by In recent years, e-banking has become increasingly popular in Nigeria.
This is because of the convenience and security that it offers to customers.
E-banking refers to the use of electronic devices such as computers and mobile phones to perform banking transactions.
This post will discuss the meaning of e-banking in Nigeria, and its advantages and disadvantages.
What is E-banking?
E-banking, also known as electronic banking, is the use of technology to carry out financial transactions
It is the use of electronic devices such as computers, mobile phones, to carry out electronic banking.
E-banking is a product designed for online banking that enables you to have easy and safe access to banking activities.
It is a safe, fast, easy and efficient method of banking that enables individuals to easily access their bank accounts and to carry out online banking services, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.
In Nigeria, E-banking started when the first ATM was installed in 1989 by the National cash Register for the now-defunct Societe Generale Bank of Nigeria.
Importance of E-banking in Nigeria
1. Convenience: Finding time to go to bank to perform various banking operations as become more and more difficult due to the ever increasing schedules of individuals.
However, with the advent of e-banking, individuals can now perform banking operations at any time and from anywhere.
E-banking has now made it convenience for customers to check their account balance, transfer money, pay for bills and perform other type of financial transaction online without having to physically visit a bank branch.E-banking has now made it convenience for customers to check their account balance, transfer money, pay for bills and perform other type of financial transactio
2. Time-saving: E-banking has significantly reduced the time to perform financial transactions in Nigeria.
With e-banking services, customers can transfer funds instantly, pay bills in real-time, and access their account information quickly.
E-banking has foster fast and quick financial transactions and has reduced the time it takes to transact financial services.
For example, If you are to paid for a utility bill, the normal procedure would have been to visit bank, wait in queue, then withdraw you cash, and then carry your cash to the utility biller’s office.
However, e-banking has reduced such scenarios as individuals can now paid for any utility bills online without having to go through all these long procedures.
E-banking had reduced the efficiency of financial transactions by making financial transaction faster and reducing the time it takes to settle interbank transactions.
3. Availability: Before e-banking, individuals can only perform financial transactions within the operating hours of banks as only a few transactions take place outside the operating hours of banks.
However, with the advent of e-banking, Individuals now have access to banking services 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, thereby increasing the availability of banking services to the Nigeria public.
Even in areas where there is no physical branch present, people can still perform financial transactions through their mobile phone.
E-banking has helped widen the availability of banking and make it easy for Nigerians to access banking services, even where there are no physical bank branches available.
4. Financial inclusion: E-banking has play an important role in promoting financial inclusion in the Nigerian economy.
It has provided access to financial services to previously underserved Nigeria population.
E-banking has make financial products and services accessible and available to individuals or businesses.
Disadvantages of E-banking
1. Unreliable: We have seen the e-banking services becomes unreliable time and time again.
Sometimes, a bank customer may try to perform financial transaction using the bank mobile apps, but the app may failed to open.
Even when the app opens, the mobile app may sometimes fails to process certain transactions due to server overload or system failures.
Furthermore, we have seen cases of customers sending money to a recipient, but the money may fail to reach the recipient bank account even though the sender has been debited for the transaction.
The unreliability of e-banking services in Nigeria has make many Nigerian, most especially the illiterate ones, dislike e-banking services very much.
2. Internet fraud: This is arguably the biggest disadvantages of e-banking.
As e-banking transactions are conducted online, they are vulnerable to cybercrime and other fraudulent activitirs.
E-banking has made it possible for cyber frauds and scammers to access customers’ online banking details and use this information to carry out fraudulent activities.
This alone has made lots of Nigerians lose trust in internet banking.
Although some banks have put in place necessary customers’ orientation to prevent the occurrence of internet fraud but it still happens on a daily basis.
This is due to the fact that scammers are constantly developing new tactics to hunt their victims even faster than banks can put preventive measures in place.
3. Lack of Personal Interaction: E-banking eliminates the need for customers to visit physical bank branches, but this also means that customers do not have the opportunity for face-to-face interaction with bank employees.
Although some banks provide in-app customer services for mobile-banking,Some customers still prefer to have personal interaction with bank employees to address any concerns they may have.
4. Internet connection requirement: Your access to electronic banking services can be hindered if you did not have adequate access to internet connection.
The initialization and continuous usage of e-banking services hinges upon continuous availability of a stable internet connection.
If you don’t have access to a stable internet connection, then you may not be able to transact e-banking services.
In a country like Nigeria where the internet connection is relatively slow nationwide, transacting e-banking services can sometimes become difficult.
5. Technical know-how: While internet banking seeks to make banking services easily available to everyone, only the literates can access it due to its long process and procedures.
To an extent, one must have some knowledge about the computer and procedures for performing internet banking.
Unfortunately, most Nigeria traders are illiterates, and they do not know how all internet banking work.
Hence, they are not able to easily access electronic banking.
Summary
We have come to the end of this post.
Here is a summary of what we have learned today.
- Ebanking, also known as electronic banking, refers to the use of electronic devices such as computers and mobile phones to perform banking transactions.
- E-banking has become increasingly popular in Nigeria due to its convenience and security.
- E-banking allows individuals to easily access their bank accounts and perform online banking services 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.
- The importance of e-banking in Nigeria includes convenience, time-saving, and easy access to banking activities.
- However, the disadvantages of e-banking include the risk of cybercrime and the exclusion of individuals who do not have access to electronic devices and internet connectivity.
