E-Banking in Pakistan: opportunities and challenges
Generally speaking, three factors, quickness, easiness and cheapness have become the catchwords for the competitiveness and usefulness of all the business operations. Particularly it is commonplace today to say that banking is undergoing a radical transformation. The symptoms are new products, new players, new channels etc. This transformation is taking place across all sectors of the banking industry. That is why banks urgently need to improve their ability, to think strategically about IT investments. Only those banks that use their technology resources effectively have the opportunity to secure real competitive advantage in this fast-changing industry through real product or service differentiation.
Secondly, liberalization, privatization and globalization have been recognized as the key elements propelling the world towards the present era, characterized by rapid changes and increased challenges in various fields. In order to meet the challenges of competition unleashed in the global arena, it has become an imperative on the part of captains of various segments of the economy to open up to harvest the advantages that are forthcoming from such global challenges. It is in this context, the most vibrant and important sector, the banking sector, started gearing up to face the challenges of such ground realities. Accordingly, several measures were initiated and implemented for improving and strengthening the competitive position of the banking industry vis-à-vis the foreign banks. Such measures include e-Banking entry into mutual funds and insurance sector business etc.
Thirdly, banking is service-oriented industry, which has peculiarity to implement various social as well as commercial objectives. It is an instrument for the development of the economy of the country. Banks have two roles to play. They create a runway for the free flow of capital necessary