Trygub A., Rieznik M.
THE KEY
ISSUES OF ONLINE BANKING IN
The Internet has become a central part of the way
communicate with others and transact business. The speed and convenience of the
online experience makes it a perfect medium for buyers and sellers.
Internet banking gives customers the ability and freedom to manage their
finances without having to go to the bank. In other words, you need internet
banking to make use of your money without leaving the comfort of an armchair or
a sofa. Advances in technology and banking security have expanded the uses of
Internet banking and have made it easier to conduct financial business on the
go from virtually any mobile device.
Online banking is the practice of making bank
transactions or paying bills via the Internet. Thanks to technology, and the
Internet in particular, people no longer have to leave the house to shop,
communicate, or even do their banking. Banking online allows a customer to make
deposits, withdrawals, and pay bills with the click of a mouse.
For the online banking customer, the convenience
factor rates high. No longer does a person have to wait for the bank statement
to arrive in the mail to check the account balance – he or she can check the
balance every day just by logging onto the account. In addition to checking
balances and transactions, customers can catch discrepancies in the account
right away and deal with them swiftly. This can be done anywhere, as long as
the person has the Internet access.
Since the cost to the bank is minimal, the cost to the
consumer, in many cases, is also minimal. While there may be a fee for some
online banking transactions, they are often extremely low. Online banking also
eliminates paper waste, which is an advantage not only for those who have to
handle all the paperwork, but also for the environment.
Of course, there are also disadvantages. Security is
always an issue with Internet transactions. Although information is encrypted,
and the chances of an account being hacked are slim, it happens. Banks pay a
lot of money to install high tech firewalls, however, and chances are good that
their customer's money is in good hands.
People who do
all of their banking via the Internet may also miss the personal service
available at the bank. Instead, except for what's recorded on the account, all
the paperwork is the responsibility of the customer. Experts recommend that
people always print copies of important transactions [1].
The majority of the Ukrainian banks offer such a service.
If not, you will have to open a card and accounts in some Internet-friendly
bank. And, of course, you will need to observe all the necessary safety
measures.
One of the useful services is regular charge-off. It
is suffice to set up templates of payments once, e.g. a monthly payment for mobile
communication or kindergarten and to set the desired schedule of these
deductions. The bank will regularly perform the required transaction at the
date specified by the client according to the given details.
Of course, you can see the detailed statistics of your
income and expenditure at any time, and use this information in order to plan your
family budget.
You can earn an extra penny with the help of internet
banking: at many banks, if a customer opens a deposit online, he is given an
extra bonus to the basic rate: usually is 0.25–0.5%, more rarely – 1–5%.
Except for the replenishment, bankers usually provide
an opportunity to terminate the deposit online, provided that the particular
deposit program envisages such an opportunity. But you can not make use of this
option in every bank. For example, PrivatBank, Ukrsotsbank, UkrSibbank and FUIB
(ÏÓÌÁ)
have such a service. Other banks do not have such a function.
Despite a great number of benefits, Internet banking
still has some disadvantages. «For example,
for clients who are abroad. Sometimes they do not receive a one-time password on
the phone for payment confirmation. Alternatively, you can temporarily change
the method of confirmation, for this you need to approach a bank's contact
center», says Iryna Pashketnyk. At the same time, problems with the text
message notification occur not only abroad. «Text messages often come tardily.
Once I received it only on the next day,» says the reader of «Dengi» [3].
It happens that the Internet banking «quarrels» with
various public utility or service providers, and, as a result, their services
can not be paid for weeks. But the worst case scenario is, if the payment does
not reach the payee, the money simply freezes. «If
money was not credited to the payee's account, was written off, and at the same
time some penalties were imposed, the bank will reimburse for the damage if it
was caused due to its fault,» notes an
attorney, a senior lawyer of the law firm «L. A. Group»
Viktoriya Chanishchi. «In
any case, if any problems with online banking arise, you should immediately
contact the bank on its hotline.» Besides, you have to control the transfer of
payments by yourself, if the defaulted payment can lead to sanctions.
It is important to remember that according to the law
on payment systems, if the bank does not perform a money transfer in time or
erroneously transfers the money to another account, it is obliged to pay a
penalty of 0.1% of the amount for each day of the delay. «But this mustn’t
exceed 10% of the amount of transfer», specifies Ms. Chanishchi.
In order to protect customer accounts, banks use
various cryptographic protections, i.e. generators of instant passwords,
digital signature, 3D-secure system and so on. «In addition, every bank has dedicated
and secure lines of information transfer for the protection of these
operations. For example, when opening a browser window, a green field with a «lock»
indicates the line's security, confidentiality of information and data
transmission security», says Viktoriya Chanishchi.
Bankers recommend to change the login password once in
a couple of months. «Besides, it’s
necessary to make sure that the client is working specifically on the website
of the Internet banking service, which is protected by a special security
certificate», says Volodymyr Guguyev, the head of the department of Internet
technologies in FUIB. There is no doubt that you need to observe the most basic
rules as well: do not leave your phone unattended, do not tell anyone your
password, and log out of the Internet banking system after all the operations
were performed.
On condition that the bank system is hacked, and all
funds are written off the account of the client, the bank is obliged to
reimburse for the loss. However, if the system access code has been lost or
stolen, and the client has not informed the bank about this in time, the theft
will be investigated by the law enforcers.
The Internet banking offers,
many advantages, some of them are as follows:
– it’s time saving;
– it provides savings in bank commissions;
– it makes it easier to control the family budget;
– it gives access to banking transactions 24/7;
– it’s always polite.
However, there are some risks
of the Internet banking, such as:
– the bank system can be hacked (then the funds are
reimbursed by the bank);
– the access password can been stolen (and if the
client does not inform the bank about this, the investigation will be carried
out by the law enforcement authorities);
– the bank delays a money transfer (then it will pay a
penalty of 0.1% of the amount for each day of the delay. However, this amount
doesn’t exceed 10% of the amount of transfer);
– the bank erroneously makes a transfer to the wrong
recipient (then it transfers money at its own expense, otherwise it pays a
penalty of 0.1% of the amount for each day of the delay. However, this amount
doesn’t exceed 10% of the amount of transfer);
– sometimes you don't receive a text message with a
confirmation code abroad (this issue is resolved by a call center employee by
temporarily changing the confirmation method) [4].
Still, for most customers, the benefits outweigh the
risks and minor inconveniences.
List of references:
1.
Ìàòåð³àëè ³íôîðìàö³éíîãî
ñàéòó «ÈÍÒÅÐÍÅÒ-ÁÀÍÊÈÍû [Åëåêòðîííèé
ðåñóðñ]. – Ðåæèì äîñòóïó : http://www.uic.unn.ru
2.
Ìàòåð³àëè ³íôîðìàö³éíîãî
ñàéòó «Äåíüãè» [Åëåêòðîííèé ðåñóðñ]. – Ðåæèì äîñòóïó : http://www.dengi.ua
3.
Ìàòåð³àëè ñàéòó áàíêó «ÏÓÌÁ» [Åëåêòðîííèé ðåñóðñ]. – Ðåæèì äîñòóïó : http://www.pumb.ua