Issues and challenges in the online banking sector
BY KAMANTHI WICKRAMASINGHE
Online banking has many benefits. Two of the most important of these are speed and convenience. People who participate in online banking can access their accounts, view their statements, make transactions, pay bills, and more all from their homes, or on the go.
However, despite the benefits of online banking, there are also a number of distinct issues and challenges in the online banking sector. These issues are highly significant both for banks that offer online banking, and for their customers, who depend on the banks to operate effectively. Online banking marketers need to know these challenges so that they can effectively navigate them. Here are some of the top issues and challenges in the online banking sector that marketers need to be aware of. 1. Traditional Banking Habits
Despite the benefits of online banking, do not participate in it at all. This is largely because traditional banking is what many people are used to and it can take time for people to break habits. So, online banking marketers should focus on ways to convince people to break their traditional banking habits. These marketing efforts should specifically highlight why online banking is better than traditional banking. 2. Security
Security is one of the most significant challenges for online banking marketers. This is because, in the past, if a robber was going to steal a person’s bank savings, he or she would have to break into the bank vault, and make a daring escape with the money. This was an extremely difficult prospect and involved a lot of danger and risk. With online banking, cyber criminals simply need to ascertain certain personal information to break into a person’s account and steal their money. It can be done anonymously, and involves significantly less physical danger than in the past. 3. Transaction Difficulty
It can be significantly more difficult and time consuming to deposit or withdraw money from an online bank. Not only do online banks often have significantly fewer ATM’S than their traditional counterparts, but it also can simply take longer amounts of time for deposits to be processed and put into a bank account. 4. Technical Issues
Because online banks rely so heavily on their online platforms, this means that they can generate substantial losses if their systems crash, or if there are bugs in their code. A single technical issue that causes a bank to be down for a day could cost the bank millions in losses. It can also wreak havoc for the bank customers who may not be able to make payments or conduct transactions during the time that the site is down. 5. Small Budgets
Many startups have to operate on shoestring marketing budgets before they grow to a larger size. Obviously this can be a major challenge. If your marketing budget is small, then you need to focus on the most important things. The inbound marketing strategies of creating a search engine optimized website, making accounts for all of the biggest social media networks (Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, etc), and starting a blog should all be prioritized.