The concept of banking has undergone many paradigm shifts in the 21st century. From traditional brick and mortar establishments, banks have evolved into online, branchless and virtual establishments, where the account holder still has access to all the amenities, but from the comfort of his/her home. Online banks are certainly popular in Canada¸ the US and the UK. These banks also give higher online interest rates on savings to their customers.
High yield interest rates: Interest rates that online banks give to their customers are always higher, since there are very few overheads. The infrastructure costs are negligible, as is the expenditure on employees. There is no branch manager or teller. The banks can pass the savings onto their customers in the form of higher interest rates.
Security of transactions: Since all transactions are done online, online banks enforce the highest levels of security and encryption on their websites to maintain optimal uptime and the fastest possible response time. The user interface is also robust and state of the art plug-ins are used to facilitate a hassle free banking experience, which otherwise traditional banks pay less attention to.
Easy account opening process: As a result of being totally online, anything the user needs to do is available on the bank’s website and the results are instantaneous. Opening a deposit account can be done on a Sunday evening without paperwork or waiting in queues. It is banking on a customer’s own terms.
Websites can be unreliable: The websites can go down sometimes, forcing users to abort their transactions midway and exposing various loopholes. Technical failures and server overloads are some of the reasons that website to go down occasionally.
No face to face interaction: With online banks, the relationship aspect of banking, which is most critical when dealing with loans, is gone. Although some online banks offer loan services, such as mortgages and financial advisories, most people still trust brick and mortar banks for these services.