Customer Satisfaction Towards E-Banking Services: a Case Study on Ific Bank Ltd.

Prelude In a constantly changing world of today, where past is replaced by dynamic present and the dynamic present is being replaced by more challenging future, the old ways of doing things is no longer valid. Change is permanent and a reality. Those who are not able to keep pace with the changes are destined to loose the race. Science and technology is changing the way financial institutions perform their transactions. Today’s banks are shaking by these technological changes. Life has never been so easy, comfortable, and luxurious. Science and technology have brought our life to this stage.
But a new technology brings with it not only the potential for success but also a never-ending series of questions regarding its design, its value to its users, ultimate use and acceptability. E-banking is the waves of the future. It provides enormous benefits to consumers in terms of case and cost of transactions, either through internet, telephone or other electronic delivery channels. For many consumers, electronic banking means 24-hours access to cash through an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) or Direct Deposit of paychecks into checking or savings accounts.
But electronic banking now involves many different types of transactions. E-banking is a form of banking where funds are transferred through an exchange of electronic signals between financial institution, rather than exchange of cash, cheeks or other negotiable instruments. With the expansion of global Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure and the internet, e-banking is set to play a pivotal role in the national economy, proper software, infrastructure, cyber low and skilled manpower are important for the implementation of e-banking in a country.

The concept of e-banking includes all types of banking activities performed through electronic networks. E-banking includes activities like payment of bills and invoices, transfer of funds between accounts, applying for a loan, payment of loan installments, sending funds to third parties via emails or internet connections regardless of where the client is located. Since e-banking offers some smart services benefiting both banks and customers compared with traditional banking system, it has become imperative to make necessary room for the scheduled banks to flourish e- banking.
Since e-banking offers some smart services benefiting both banks and customers compared with traditional banking system, it has become imperative to make necessary room for the scheduled banks to flourish e-banking. Among others, attractiveness of e-banking includes: ? it lowers transaction cost; ? provide 24-hour services; ? ensure increased security and control over transactions; ? reduces fraud risk; ? performs higher volume of transactions with less time; ? increases number and volume of value payment through banks; ? llows remote transactions facilities that replace physical presence of a customer in a bank branch and; ? increases transaction speed and accuracy. On the other hand, traditional banking is time-consuming and more costly and therefore, e-banking is replacing traditional banking all over the world. Especially with the increasing acceptability of digital signatures around the world, e-banking has made life much easier and banking much faster and more pleasant, for customers as well as for bankers. Problem Statement Customer satisfaction is required for the banking sector to raise profitability, business growth and success.
Customer perception is very important to add value of the banking services and products. E-banking is the waves of the future. It can provide speedier, faster, reliable services to the customers for which they are relatively happy. It provides enormous benefits to consumers in terms of case and cost of transactions, either through internet, telephone or other electronic delivery channels. A new technology brings with it not only the potential for success, but also a never-ending series of questions regarding its design, its value to the user, its ultimate use and acceptability.
Although there has been significant effort made to eliminate paper-based payment transactions, the basic way of handling payments by consumers has not changed. The study has been undertaken to evaluate the reaction of the customers towards the e-banking services. Research Objectives E-banking services provide smart replacement of traditional banking services and benefit both the bankers and the customers. But in Bangladesh, due to presence of some constrains, e-banking is not flourishing as it should do.
The main objective of this research study is to find out the reaction of the customers towards the e-banking services. In this context, the specific objectives would be to observe – ? The types of e-banking facilities a bank, in this case IFIC Bank Ltd. , offers to its customers; ? The factors that satisfy the customers in receiving e-banking facilities offered by the bank; ? The constraints the customers face in adopting e-banking facilities; ? The expectations and recommendations of the customers towards e-banking services. Literature Review A. E-Banking in Bangladesh
In Bangladesh, e-banking facilities are yet to be fully developed although some technology driven products and services have been in operation over the last few years. The existing technology driven products and services offered by the traditional banks are ATM services, debit card and credit card, transactions through POS terminals, inter-branch online transactions through individualized online closed network of individual bank, limited customer services provided through internet and membership of SWIFT allowing scheduled banks to conduct wireless transactions especially e-transactions.
All these technology based products and services have obviously unlocked the way to step toward e-banking. Moreover, as a part of modernizing national payment and settlement system, Bangladesh Automated Clearing House (BACH) that includes Bangladesh Automated Cheque Processing System (BACPS), and Bangladesh Electronic Fund Transfer Network (BEFTN), is being implemented under the “Remittance and Payments Partnership” (RPP) project of the Bangladesh Bank funded by DFID-UK is expected to speed up the adoption of e-banking as well. E-banking at per international standard is yet to develop in Bangladesh.
At present, several private commercial banks (PCBs) and foreign commercial banks (FCBs) offer limited services of telebanking, internet banking, and online banking facilities working within the branches of individual bank in a closed network environment. As a part of stepping towards e-banking, the FCBs have played the pioneering role with adoption of modern technology in retail banking during the early 1990s whereas the state-owned commercial banks (SCBs) and PCBs came forward with such services in a limited scale during the late 1990s.
Moreover, the banking industry as a whole, except for the four specialized banks (SBs), rushed to offer technology based banking services during the middle of the current decade. Online Banking: Transactions in online banking are performed within closed network for which the customer use specialized software provided by the respective bank. International standard online banking facilities are expanding in Bangladesh.
At present, 29 scheduled banks offer any branch banking facilities through their respective bank online network that provides facilities like transaction through any branch under the respective bank online network; payment against pay order or pay order encashment, demand draft encashment, opening or redemption of FDR from any branch of the same bank; remote fund transfer, cash withdrawal, cash deposit, account statement, clearing and balance enquiry within branches of the same bank; and L/C opening, loan repayment facility to and from any branch of respective bank under its own online network.
Inter-bank transactions or transaction between inter bank branches are yet to expand. Under the modernization program of the National Payment and Settlement System, Bangladesh Automated Clearing House (which includes Bangladesh Automated Cheque Processing System and Bangladesh Electronic Fund Transfer Network) came into effect from September 2009 followed by implementation of online banking at per international standard in near future.
Internet Banking: Internet banking refers to the use of internet as a remote delivery channel for banking services which permits the customer to conduct transactions from any terminal with access to the internet. It is the WWW through which banks can reach their customers directly with no intermediaries. Internet banking in true sense is still absent in Bangladesh.
Only 7 out of 47 banks are providing some banking services via internet that include account balance enquiry, fund transfer among accounts of the same customer, opening or modifying term deposit account, cheque book or pay order request, exchange rate or interest rate enquiry, bills payment, account summary, account details, account activity, standing instructions, loan repayment, loan information, statement request, ,cheque status enquiry, stop payment cheque, refill prepaid card, password change, L/C application, bank guarantee application, lost card (debit/credit) reporting, pay credit card dues, view credit card statement, or check balance. The core banking activities like fund transfer to third party, cross border transactions and so on are still uncovered by internet banking offered by the scheduled banks in Bangladesh. Mobile Banking: Mobile banking (also known as M-banking or SMS banking) is a term used for performing balance checks, account transactions, payments etc. via a mobile device such as a mobile phone. Mobile banking is most often performed via SMS or the Mobile Internet but can also use special programs called clients downloaded to the mobile device.
The standard package of activities that mobile banking covers are: mini-statements and checking of account history; alerts on account activity or passing of set thresholds; monitoring of term deposits; access to loan statements; access to card statements; mutual funds/equity statements; insurance policy management; pension plan management; status on cheque, stop payment on cheque; ordering check books; balance checking in the account; recent transactions; due date of payment (functionality for stop, change and deleting of payments); PIN provision, change of PIN and reminder over the internet; blocking of (lost/stolen) cards; domestic and international fund transfers; micro-payment handling; mobile recharging; commercial payment processing; bill payment processing; peer to peer payments; withdrawal at banking agent; and deposit at banking agent. Despite huge prospects, only a few banks adopted mobile banking in Bangladesh during the last year. Tele Banking: Tele banking refers to the services provided through phone that requires the customers to dial a particular telephone number to have access to an account which provides several options of services.
Despite huge potential, telebanking services have not been widened enough in daily banking activities in Bangladesh. Only four banks so far provide a few options of telebanking services such as detail account information, balance inquiry, information about products or services, ATM card activation, cheque book related service, bills payment, credit card service and so on. Funds transfer between current, savings and credit card account, stock exchange transactions etc are still inaccessible through telebanking in Bangladesh. B. Prospects of e-Banking in Bangladesh E-banking is now a global phenomenon. Apart from the developed countries, the developing countries are experiencing strong growth in e-banking.
The government’s emphasis on building a digital Bangladesh, setting up ICT park, raising allocation for developing ICT infrastructure, waiving taxes on computer peripherals and other measures including the automation program of banking sector led by the Bangladesh Bank and competition among the scheduled banks in improving customer services have accelerated the prospects of e-banking in Bangladesh. Bangladesh Bank is implementing the RPP project for modernizing national payment and settlement system. The BACH including BACPS and BEFTN has started functioning from September 2009 followed by the development of inter-bank online network. The project plans to go for real time gross settlement (RTGS) by 2012. It has been made mandatory for all head offices of the scheduled banks to be connected with Bangladesh Bank for satisfying BACH and BEFTN.
These efforts would allow the scheduled banks to be connected to each other for conducting inter-bank online transactions in near future and this would smoothen the introduction of e-banking in Bangladesh. Internet services came to Bangladesh with connectivity in 1996. Digital telephone exchanges have been established in 389 upazilas and 17 growth centres. Work is underway to cover the rest of the upazilas under digital exchange system. Meanwhile, Bangladesh has joined the information super-highway by connecting itself with international submarine cable system in 2006. A total of 159 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have now been connected with this system of which 64 are actively providing services. Internet connection is slow with bandwidth range 32 kbps to 56 kbps for dial up and 64 kbps to 8 mbps for broadband.
The establishment of internet exchange is under implementation. Encryption laws to accept electronic authentication of transactions has been enacted in 2006 and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has been legalized. Under this scenario, as a part of government decision of building digital Bangladesh, the existing capabilities of ICT sector is likely to increase rapidly in bringing all upazilas under internet services and this will contribute in widening the scope of e-banking throughout the country. Although all branches of FCBs and 99% branches of PCBs were computerized by December 2006, the average for all bank branches was 37% since only 4% and 16% of SBs and SCBs respectively were computerized.
Out of a total of 6,565 branches in 2006, 2,426 were computerized of which 651 branches of 22 PCBs and 7 FCBs together were providing any-branch-banking facility under respective bank online network. During the period, the number of ATM booths and POS terminals stood at 478 and 4,647 respectively covering important merchant outlets in six divisional cities and some other important district towns in Bangladesh while 43 banks became the member of SWIFT and 25 banks adopted router connection. Since about 50% of total bank branches belong to SCBs spread throughout the country including the rural areas, ICT penetration is crucial for this category of banks. The recent corporatization of the NCBs, would influence the banks in this category to be competitive through improving their service quality incorporating the use of modern technology.
Although all these are positive developments, more attention is needed to enhance ICT capabilities of the banking system especially the SCBs for successful implementation of e-banking all over the country. Although e-banking has bright prospects, it involves some financial risks as well. The major risk of e-banking includes operational risks (e. g. security risks, system design, implementation and maintenance risks); customer misuse of products and services risks; legal risks (e. g. without proper legal support, money laundering may be influenced); strategic risks; reputation risks (e. g. in case the bank fails to provide secure and trouble free e-banking services, this will cause reputation risk); credit risks; market risks; and liquidity risks.
Therefore, identification of relevant risks, and formulation and implementation of proper risk mitigation policies and strategies are important for the scheduled banks while performing e-banking. In Bangladesh, despite huge demand from the business community as well as the retail customers particularly the urban customers, the expansion of e-banking is beset with several infrastructural, institutional, and regulatory constraints such as unavailability of a backbone network connecting the whole country; inadequacy of reliable and secure information infrastructure especially telecommunication infrastructure; sluggish ICT penetration in banking sector; insufficient legal and regulatory support for adopting e-banking and so on.
In Bangladesh, telephone connectivity is inadequate, cost of PCs are still beyond purchasing capacity of most people, internet connection is costly, IT literacy is yet to reach satisfactory level, banking sector lacks skilled IT personnel, and huge investment requirement for establishing technology based banking services are prime drawbacks. Despite the constraints, efforts by the Bangladesh Bank in modernizing the country’s payment system and commitment by the government in building ‘Digital Bangladesh’ have brought competition among the scheduled banks to improve banking services and rapidly adopt e-banking on a wider scale. Research Design
Since the research is conducted to find out the factors that satisfy the customers towards e-banking, the constraints they face in adopting e-banking facilities and their expectations and recommendations towards e-banking, the research is particularly suited as an exploratory research. Data Collection Methods For the purpose of the study both primary and secondary data have been used. Primary data have been collected from the customers through depth interview with the help of a questionnaire, which is attached with this report in Appendix I. In case of secondary data, the data has been collected from the websites, brochures, annual reports, and manuals of IFIC Bank Ltd. Sample Design
The target population for the study was all the customers of IFIC Bank Ltd. who receive e-banking services from the bank. Elephant Road Branch of IFIC Bank Ltd. is selected as the sampling unit. All the customers of the branch who have used e-banking services constituted the sampling frame. A sample size of 30 customers has been selected. The sample was selected using convenience sampling. Analysis Qualitative analysis of the facts found through depth interview of the customers and secondary data collected through other sources is done throughout the research. This qualitative analysis is totally a judgmental analysis of the researcher. Here, no quantitative analysis is done.
To find out the reactions of the customers towards e-banking services it is tried to find out whether the customers use the e-banking services frequently; people of which occupation use the service frequently; if the customers are comfortable with using the e-banking services or not; if they are satisfied what factors make them satisfied; if the customers are facing constraints, what type of constraints they are facing; what the customers suggest to diversify away those constraints; and lastly what the customers expect more from the bank regarding e-banking services. Overview of IFIC Bank Ltd. International Finance Investment and Commerce Bank Limited (IFIC Bank) is a banking company incorporated in the People’s Republic of Bangladesh with limited liability. It was set up at the instance of the Government in 1976 as a joint venture between the Government of Bangladesh and sponsors in the private sector with the objective of working as a finance company within the country and setting up joint venture banks/financial institutions abroad. The Government held 49 per cent shares and the rest 51 per cent were held by the sponsors and general public.
In 1983 when the Government allowed banks in the private sector, IFIC was converted into a full-fledged commercial bank. The Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh now holds 35% of the share capital of the Bank. Leading industrialists of the country having vast experience in the field of trade and commerce own 34% of the share capital and the rest is held by the general public. The Bank’s mission is to provide service to the clients with the help of a skilled and dedicated workforce whose creative talents, innovative actions and competitive edge make its position unique in giving quality service to all institutions and individuals.
The bank is committed to the welfare and economic prosperity of the people and the community, for it drives from them the inspiration and drive for onward progress to prosperity. The bank wants to be the leader among banks in Bangladesh and make indelible mark as an active partner in regional banking operating beyond the national boundary. In an intensely competitive and complex financial and business environment, we particularly focus on growth and profitability of all concerned. Milestones in the development of IFIC BANK |1976 |Established as an Investment & Finance Company under arrangement of joint venture with the govt. of Bangladesh. | |1980 |Commenced operation in Foreign Exchange Business in a limited scale. | |1982 |Obtained permission from the Govt. to operate as a commercial bank. | |Set up a its first overseas joint venture (Bank of Maldives Limited) in the Republic of Maldives (IFIC’s share in Bank | | |of Maldives Limited was subsequently sold to Maldives Govt. in 1992) | |1983 |Commenced operation as a full-fledged commercial bank in Bangladesh. | |1985 |Set up a joint venture Exchange Company in the Sultanate of Oman, titled Oman Bangladesh Exchange Company (subsequently| | |renamed as Oman International Exchange, LLC). | |1987 |Set up its first overseas branch in Pakistan at Karachi. | |1993 |Set up its second overseas branch in Pakistan at Lahore. |1994 |Set up its first joint venture in Nepal for banking operation, titled Nepal Bangladesh Bank Ltd. | |1999 |Set up its 2nd joint venture in Nepal for lease financing, titled Nepal Bangladesh Finance & leasing Co. Ltd. which was| | |merged with NBBL in 2007 | |2003 |Overseas Branches in Pakistan amalgamated with NDLC, to establish a joint venture bank: NDLC-IFIC Bank Ltd. , | | |subsequently renamed as NIB Bank Ltd. | |2005 |Acquired MISYS solution for real time on-line banking application. | | |Core Risk Management implemented. | |2006 |Corporate Branding introduced. | |Visa Principal and Plus (Issuer and Require) Program Participant Membership obtained. | |2008 |Observing 25th Anniversary of Customer Satisfaction. | |2009 |64 Branches offering Real Time On-line banking facility. | Services Offered by IFIC Bank Ltd. Corporate Banking IFIC Bank is providing a wide range of financial services, offering specialist advice and products to corporate clients to meet diverse demands of changing market scenario. Products and services for commercial and business customers include: Working Capital Finance, Project Finance, Term Finance, Trade Finance, Lease Finance, Syndication Loan etc. Retail Banking
Retail Banking is mass-banking facility for individual customers to avail banking services directly from the wide branch network all over the country. The bank provides one-stop financial services to all individual customers through its innovative products & services to cater their need. With a view to provide faster and more convenient centralized online banking services, now, all its branches have been brought under the real time online banking system. IFIC Bank offers a wide variety of deposit products, loan product & value added services to suit the customer’s banking requirements. Products and services for individual customer include: Consumer Finance, Deposit Product, Card, NRB Account, Student File, SMS Banking etc. SME Banking
The growth of Small and Medium enterprises (SMEs) in terms of size and number has multiple effects on the national economy, specifically on employment generation, GDP growth, and poverty alleviation in Bangladesh. At present, Small & Medium Enterprise sector is playing a vital role in creation of new generation entrepreneurs and ‘Entrepreneurs Culture’ in the country. Experience shows that borrowers of small enterprise sector prefers collateral free loan since normally they cannot offer high value security to cover the exposure. To facilitate SME sector of the country, IFIC Bank provides collateral free credit facilities to the small & medium entrepreneurs across the country whose access to traditional credit facilities are very limited.
The bank is offering 15 different products for selected target groups, such as – Easy Commercial Loan, Retailers Loan, Muldhan Loan, Women Entrepreneur’s Loan (Protyasha), Transport Loan, Working Capital Loan, Project Loan, letter of Contractor’s Loan, Bidder’s Loan, Working Capital Loan, Project Loan, Letter of Guarantee, Letter of Credit Loan against Imported Merchandize (LIM), Loan against Trust Receipt etc. E-Banking Services Offered by IFIC Bank Ltd. Since the beginning of its journey as a commercial bank in 1983, IFIC Bank has been giving great emphasis on the adoption of modern technology. It became the pioneer in the field of automation by introducing computerized branch banking right in the same year.
Subsequently, all the branches were brought under similar automated platforms with upgraded software applications to offer all the critical banking features. At present all 82 domestic branches are fully computerized under networked environment. The Bank has taken up a new project with Misys International Banking System Inc. (UK) to further upgrade its banking operation to state-of-art world class on-line banking solutions to provide faster and even more convenient centralized services to the clients. Besides, the Bank is also operating fully on-line Automated Teller Machine (ATM) services under the banner Q-Cash at a number of locations in Dhaka and Chittagong. The ATM facilities are available to the customers at Q-Cash booth. At present, there are five ATM booths of the bank. IFIC Bank Ltd. or achieving customer satisfaction and for surviving in this competitive market has concentrated on offering different types of e-banking services to its customers. Different e-banking services offered by the bank are fully online branch banking facilities, credit card, debit card, prepaid card, SMS banking facilities etc. IFIC Credit Card IFIC Bank VISA Credit Cards are issued in two types namely Gold and Classic for both local and international use. The Local Cards can be used at any ATM displaying VISA Logo for withdrawal of cash and at any POS displaying VISA Logo for purchase of goods & services within Bangladesh whereas the International Cards can be used at any ATM and POS displaying VISA logo anywhere in the world.
International credit card is a dual currency card and as such one can use the same plastic at home & abroad. Classic cards are for lower limits and less costly. IFIC credit cardholders can enjoy 20 to 50 days interest free period depending on the date of transaction and the date of statement generation. Interest free period will not be allowed for cash advance. The customers can repay any amount not less than the minimum payment due within the due date and keep account regular to enjoy revolving credit facility. Customers can enjoy credit facility at lower interest rate of 2% per month. Customers can enjoy cash withdrawal facility up to 60% of the credit limit through ATMs.
One can enjoy up to 100% of your credit limit through Bank POS from any branch of IFIC Bank Limited. First two supplementary cards are free. Customers can select any two from their near & dear persons and give them supplementary credit cards. They can also enjoy and share their credit limit. They can also allow specific limits for them within their credit limit. No interest will be calculated on the amount other than cash advance if the total billing amount is paid within the payment due date. In case of part payment or no payment, interest @2% per month will be applied from the date of transaction on daily product basis until the outstanding balance is fully paid.
IFIC Debit Card IFIC Bank VISA Debit Card can be used at any ATM displaying VISA Logo for withdrawal of cash and at any POS displaying VISA Logo for purchase of goods & services within Bangladesh. ATM transactions are to be secured by Personal Identification Number (PIN) known by the concerned customer only. POS transactions will not require PIN. However, all the transactions are to be authorized by the system electronically. IFIC debit card is issued against any individual savings/ current account maintained with any branch of IFIC Bank Limited. The designated savings/current account can be operated by using the debit card without using cheques any time.
The customers are not required to pay any charge for transactions at Merchant Point of Sale (POS) for purchasing goods and services. For cash withdrawal from ATM/Branches, a little charge may be applied. No interest will be calculated on cash withdrawal or purchases. No minimum amount due and no hassle of payment of monthly bills. IFIC Prepaid Card IFIC Bank VISA Prepaid Card can be used at any ATM displaying VISA Logo for withdrawal of cash and at any POS displaying VISA Logo for purchase of goods & services within Bangladesh. ATM transactions are to be secured by Personal Identification Number (PIN) known by the concerned customer only. POS transactions will not require PIN. However, all the transactions are to be authorized by the system electronically.
Prepaid card is safer than carrying cash and more convenient than writing cheques. IFIC Prepaid card is issued by the branches instantly on filling-up the Application Form and making initial deposit. There is no need to have any account with the Bank. Prepaid card are suitable for the customers who does not maintain any account with IFIC. No interest will be calculated on cash withdrawal or purchases. No minimum amount due and no hassle of payment of monthly bills. Bank POS are available at all the branches of the Bank. Any IFIC Card Holder can withdraw cash from any branch of IFIC Bank Ltd. through Bank POS. Credit Card Holders can withdraw cash up to 100% of their credit limit. SMS Banking IFIC Bank Ltd. atered the demand of time in the era of modern banking technology through SMS Banking Service. It is indeed a fast, secure, convenient, economical and quickest way of banking. The service is available round the clock seven days a week. Customers can check their balance, account information, or even get your mini account statements through IFIC SMS Banking Service by using their mobile phones. Services available by SMS banking are as follows: Account Service ? Balance Enquiry ? Mini Statement Request (Last 5 Transactions) ? Foreign exchange Rate enquiry ? Fixed Deposit Rate enquiry ? Interest Rate enquiry ? Branch Location enquiry ? PIN Change ? Bank Product Information ? Greetings Loan Installment Notification (overdue) ? Any other Massage Card Services ? Current Outstanding Balance ? Mini Statement Request ( Last 5 Transactions) ? Minimum Payment Due ? Payment Due Date ? Payment Due Alert ? Transaction Notification Analysis The concept of e-banking includes all types of banking activities performed through electronic networks. In Bangladesh, despite huge demand e-banking is not flourishing as it should do. On the other hand, customer satisfaction is required for the banking sector to raise profitability, business growth and success. Customer perception is very important to add value of the banking services and products.
Through this study it is tried to find out whether the customers are appreciating the e-banking services offered to them or not; factors that satisfy them in receiving e-banking services from banks; the constraints they face regarding this matter and what they expect from the banks regarding e-banking services. For conducting the research, data from both primary and secondary sources are collected. Primary data are collected by doing depth interview of the customers with the help of a questionnaire, which is given in the Appendix I. This research study is based on the case study on IFIC Bank Ltd. The sampling unit is the Elephant Road branch of the bank and 30 regular customers of the branch are used as sample for conducting the research.
To find out the reactions of the customers towards e-banking services it is tried to find out whether the customers use the e-banking services frequently; people of which occupation use the service frequently; if the customers are comfortable with using the e-banking services or not; if they are satisfied what factors make them satisfied; if the customers are facing constraints, what type of constraints they are facing; what the customers suggest to diversify away those constraints; and lastly what the customers expect more from the bank regarding e-banking services. The research is an explorative research. That is why only qualitative research has been done on the facts found through depth interview and on the basis of secondary data collected. Nature of Respondents The research is conducted based on the opinion of 30 regular customers of IFIC bank Ltd. , Elephant Road branch. Of the respondents 4 customers are businessman, 15 are service holders, 4 are students, 5 are housewives, 1 is teacher and 1 is a retired banker. Among the respondents, 11 respondents are female and the rest of them are male. Types of E-banking Services Used by the Respondents
IFIC Bank mainly provides 5 kinds of e-banking services, namely, online transaction, debit card, credit card, prepaid card, SMS banking service. Other than these ATM booths and POS terminals of the bank or other ones having VISA logo provides e-banking services to the customers. Among the respondents, all of them use online transactions; 23 customers use debit cards; 10 customers use credit cards; 11 customers use SMS banking facilities. Among the customers no one uses prepaid card service. Frequency of Usage of E-banking Services by the Respondents Among the respondents, 9 customers use e-banking services highly frequently; 13 of them use with medium frequency and 8 of them use with low frequency. Businessmen and some of the service holders use e-banking services highly frequently.
Some service holders and students use with medium frequency and lastly rest of the service holders and housewives, generally, use with low frequency. Factors Satisfied the Customers regarding E-banking Services IFIC Bank has started offering e-banking services to its customers only recently, which is not more than 2 years. So the customers, who do regular transactions in the bank, are very satisfied with the type of e-banking services they are receiving from the bank. All the customers of the bank can enjoy online banking facilities. Even two years before there was branch banking system. So, the customers had to go to branch to branch for their transaction making purposes.
But now, with the introduction of online banking, they can do their transactions from any branch in Bangladesh without any encumbrance. Recently, all the 82 branches of the bank are providing online banking services to the customers. So, the customers are feeling it convenient to uses e-banking services. Usage of debit and credit cards has made customers life easy. People do not have to go to branches to withdraw money. Rather they can use the ATM booths of the bank or other ones showing VISA logo and withdraw money. They can also check their account balances and get mini statements of their accounts using ATM booth. Customers can use POS terminals showing VISA logo to purchase goods and services and pay bills. SMS banking also has made customers life easy.
They can use their mobile phones for balance checking, getting any kind of relevant enquiries or for making relevant requests. So, the customers are feeling it is easy to use e-banking services as it saves a lot of time and cost. Some customers feel it is safe to use e-banking facilities. A lots of paperwork and manual work has been eliminated with the introduction of e-banking services, which reduces the chance of errors. According to above analysis, it is found that the factors for which customers are satisfied with e-banking service are convenience, availability of quick services, easy services and safety. Constraints Faced by the Customers Many of the respondents have said that they are facing constraints using e-banking services offered by IFIC bank.
Some customers say that they cannot depend on the e-banking services, like debit cards, credit cards. They have the fear of security. They have some misconceptions regarding these services. They say that, it would be easier for others to do fraudulent activities with their accounts or cards if they use them. For this reason, some customers do not use these services although they bear the cards. Some customers have lack of awareness regarding the benefit of e-banking services. They are not aware of safety, easiness and benefit of using e-banking services. Some customers have lack of dependency on e-banking services. They rather feel it safe to do TT rather than doing online transactions.
They do not understand the speediness of using e-banking services and like traditional and manual work. Some customers find it costly using e-banking services. Cost of using debit cards and credit cards are very high according to them. Again, the bank has only 5 ATM booths of its own and POS terminals are available only in the branches, which does not bear extra cost, but they are only few in number. Other organizations’ ATM booths and POS terminals cost extra charges which the customers do not like to bear. According to above discussion, it is found that the constraints the customers face are fear of security, lack of awareness, lack of dependency, and cost.
Expectations and Recommendations of the Customers Regarding E-banking Services According to the customers, the expectations from the bank and recommendations for the bank are as follows: ? The bank should install more ATM booths of its own to different locations to make it available, easy, convenient and less costly for the customers to use the facilities. ? The bank should have some programs to create awareness and increase dependency about the products they offer to customers. The bank can distribute brochures, leaflets to its customers informing them about advantages of using the services. The bank can also send letters to the customers informing about the products.
Some customers have requested that it would be better if the letters are sent in Bangla rather than in English. ? As some customers think that using e-banking services are costly for them, the bank may reduce the cost of these services or may give some discounts. ? The bank should concentrate more on the safety of the services. ? The bank should do more advertisement about their products. Some customers are not even aware about the SMS banking service and the prepaid card service is offered by the bank. ? The bankers should be more helpful in making the customers aware and understand about the new e-banking services offered by the bank. Conclusion
Customer satisfaction is required for the banking sector to raise profitability, business growth and success. Customer perception is very important to add value of the banking services and products. E-banking is the waves of the future. It can provide speedier, faster, reliable services to the customers for which they are relatively happy. It provides enormous benefits to consumers in terms of case and cost of transactions, either through internet, telephone or other electronic delivery channels. A new technology brings with it not only the potential for success, but also a never-ending series of questions regarding its design, its value to the user, its ultimate use and acceptability.
The research has been undertaken to evaluate the reaction of the customers towards the e-banking services. The research was an exploratory research. Qualitative analysis of the data collected from both primary and secondary sources are done. Primary data was collected by doing depth interview of the customers of Elephant Road branch IFIC Bank Ltd. Sample size was 30. According to the analysis the factors for which make customers satisfied with e-banking service are convenience, availability of quick services, easy services and safety. The constraints the customers face from receiving e-banking services from the bank are fear of security, lack of awareness, lack of dependency, and high cost.
The customers expect that the bank should be more careful and concentrate on informing the information about the newly launched products to its customers to increase awareness and dependency on those products. The bank should make the services more convenient to the customers. And it should also take care of the security matters of the customers. ———————– Target Population: All the customers of IFIC Bank Ltd. who use e-banking services offered by the bank Sampling Unit: Elephant Road branch of IFIC Bank ltd. Sampling Frame: Name of all the customers of the branch who have used e-banking services Sample Size: 30 Sampling Technique: Convenience Sampling Exhibit 1: Sample Design