The 1999 survey showed that competition is the greatest concern
for e-commerce in 36% of financial services firms, while only 17%
cited security. Despite recent scares, the situation is more
extreme in Europe where only 11% of firms are most concerned about
e-commerce security. The firm surveyed 125 financial institutions
in over 20 countries.
Yet in too many cases, the survey suggests that internet banking
is failing consumers. In Europe, up to 50% of e-mails are not
responded to within eight hours and the level rises to 64% in the
US. There is also an urgent need for integration as 30% of firms in
Europe and 40% in the US give customers inconsistent information
about their finances through different delivery channels.
Jonathan Charley, Vice President Financial Services of Cap
Gemini Ernst & Young, said:
"Financial services companies are under
intense pressure to produce an e-commerce offer as quickly as
possible and there is a danger that many are compromising the
quality of that offer. It is essential that they focus on a
multi-channel strategy that enhances the customer experience and
helps to increase customer take up of e-commerce.
"Many firms – one third in Europe and half
in the US – are not even offering an incentive to encourage their
customers to migrate to Internet banking. Given the benefits that
the banks themselves will realise, it seems unusual that this
opportunity is being missed."
Globally, only 9% of firms cited decreasing the cost of
operation as the main reason for implementing e-commerce, a
reduction from 23% in 1997. This shows an increased understanding
that cost savings are taking longer to realise and are
significantly lower than originally anticipated.
Europe outnumbers the US in on-line transactions in the
financial services market, the predicted increase being from a
current 4% in Europe to a predicted 25% by 2003. In the US, a rise
from the current three per cent to 12 per cent is expected.
"It is interesting to note," said Jonathan Charley, "that
despite the hype, internet banking is not expected to replace the
need for branches. Although transactions are predicted to decrease
through this bricks and mortar channel, respondents in our survey
still believe that the number of transactions through branches will
be 4% greater than those made via the internet in 2003."
