Bankers’ Perceptions of Electronic Banking in Pakistan

Electronic distribution channels provide alternatives for faster delivery of banking services to a wider range of customers. E-channels have gained increasing popularity and have attracted the attention of both academics and practitioners. This paper aims to collect bank employees’ perceptions of the potential benefits and risks associated with electronic banking in Pakistan. The outcomes may help the management of banks develop effective strategic planning for the future of electronic banking in developing countries like Pakistan. Primary sources were used to collect the data and were analyzed via frequency analysis JIBC April 2008, Vol. 13, No. 1 2 and mean score analysis. The results suggest that bankers in Pakistan perceive electronic banking as tool for minimizing inconvenience, reducing transaction costs and saving time. Similarly, they believe that electronic banking increases the chances of government access to public data, increases the chances of fraud and that there is a lack of information security. Bank personnel profiles were further analyzed in relation to their perceptions to identify different segments among the target respondents. The results show that public bank employees who have professional degrees consider ‘minimizing transaction costs’ and ‘reduction in HR requirements’ as the most and the least important benefits of electronic banking respectively. Private bank employees who have masters or bachelor degrees, and less than 10 years experience, perceive ‘time saving and minimizing inconvenience’ as the major benefits of electronic banking. However they did not consider ‘reducing the risk of carrying cash’ as an important benefit. Branch managers who are directly responsible for the operations viewed ‘facilitates quick response’ as the most important benefit of electronic banking. Lastly, private bank employees who hold masters degrees and have more than 10 years working experience did not perceive ‘improvement in service quality’ as an important benefit. Interestingly, bankers in all segments considered ‘government access to data’ as the biggest risk associated to electronic banking.