Electronic banking is the conduct of banking process as of deposit, payment confirmation and enquires through the use of electronic medium.

The introduction of electronic banking has attracted attention to some important issues of regulatory/supervisory concern, such as adequacy of legal and regulatory framework for electronic banking, security of financial transactions, potential risk of electronic banking, consumer protection, supervisory capacity, cross border issues such as money laundering and jurisdictional issues etc.

Electronic banking, though with enormous merits, also has some challenges in legal and regulatory form.

Only banks which are licensed, supervised with physical presence in Nigeria, are permitted to offer electronic banking services in Nigeria. Virtual banks or banks that exist only in cyber space are not allowed . Electronic banking products and services are available only to residents of Nigeria with verifiable address within the geographic boundary of Nigeria, persons residing physically in Nigeria and citizens under resident permits or other local residency designation under the Nigeria immigration Act or any person known under this law as a classified person who is neither a resident of Nigeria nor a person residing under a resident permit, but is temporarily in Nigeria.

 Meaning Of Banking

For one to fully appreciate the meaning of “banking” he must first understand the meaning of a “bank”.

According to Oxford English Dictionary, 6th edition, a bank is an organization that provides various financial services, such as keeping and lending money.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th edition defines it as, a financial establishment that uses money deposited by customers for investment, pays it out when required makes loans at interest, and exchanges currency.

 Black’s Law Dictionary, 8th edition defines a bank as a financial establishment for the deposit, loan, exchange or issue of money and for transaction of funds. To Dr. Hart, [2]

A bank is a person or company on business of receiving monies and collecting drafts of customers subject to the obligation of honouring cheques drawn upon them from time to time by customers to the extent of the amount available on their current account.

The Benefits of Online Banking

What are the three greatest things about the Internet? E-mail, music, and online banking!

Whether for the convenience or the control, online banking is an aspect of banking that nobody can resist. Our children will probably laugh when we tell them people used to actually go to a bank to pay bills.

Online banking rocks!

Many of the benefits of doing your banking online are obvious:

You don't have to wait in line.

You don't have to plan your day around the bank's hours.

You can look at your balance whenever you want, not just when you get a statement.

There are some hidden benefits too. As a young bank customer, you're just learning how to manage your money and observe your spending patterns.

Online banking allows you to watch your money on a daily basis if you want to. By keeping close tabs on your funds, you'll always be aware of what's happening in your bank account.

For those experienced spenders, this option is far more appealing than the sudden discovery that you're broke!

It's also helpful to watch how much interest you're gathering on investments and savings or what service charges you have incurred.

 Bills payment and transfers. The choice is yours. It really depends on how you like to bank.

You will get a confirmation number after each transaction and you can always check the session summary to see what you've done. If you make a mistake, customer service is always available

What to expect

Here are some of the features available through online banking:

View balances: Checking your balance doesn't require much work. You simply select Account balances and take a look at your balance and past transactions. If you have more than one account, you can also do transfers between accounts.

Pay bills: To pay your bills online, you just need to add to your account the names of the companies you wish to pay bills to. In the Pay Bills section, select Add payees, search for the name of the company and fill in the account number for each company. You can go for the e-bills service from e-post, a service that sends you a bill by email instead of a printed one by regular mail.

Transfer funds: When you select Transfer Funds, you'll be asked where to transfer the money to and from, when, and the amount.

Set up recurring bill payments or transfers: If you make a regular payment every month, it might be convenient to set up an automatic withdrawal from your account.

Send and receive e-Transfer:  You can receive transfers from other people's accounts, or set up transfers from your account to someone else's. The recipient will get an sms alert/ e-mail notifying them of the transaction.

ATM  CARD - You can make your debit/credit card payments online, buy airtime, pay DSTV, school fees, inter- bank transfer. etc right from your account via ATM .

Order cheques: We don't need them much anymore due to online banking and debit purchases

Online banking helps you become more of a banker, running your accounts like a small business that you control every day. Once you get started, you'll be hooked. Soon enough you'll be checking your bank account as often as your e-mail.

Point of Sale (POS) 

This device is called point of sale, is making purchases, sales,financial transactions earsier because, when walk into supermarkets, filling stations, hotels, shop rights, you need not to go with money in your pucket, be with your ATM CARDS that is all after buying all you want, put your ATM CARD in the POS device, amount of what of you have purchased will be deducted from your bank account via your cards. Wow that is cool right? Shopping with cards and POS.

Internet Banking- this involves use of your computer, go to your bankers with your computer, ask them for internet banking services on your computer, they will need your email to set it for you. After that you will be issued a token device link to your account. With this service you can do bank transfer, pay bills, view your bank statements. You need an internet connection to perform this in your office or at comfort of your home.

Mobile Telephony: Mobile phones are increasingly being used for financial services

in Nigeria. Banks are enabling the customers to conduct some banking services such

as account inquiry and funds transfer. Via mobile phones, to use this service give your internet enable phone to your bankers and mobile banking platform will be installed for your use to send money, pay bills, buy air time etc. sounds good right?

ONLINE PURCHASE. You can now pay for softwares, cars, etc you found in facebook, google, yahoo when surfing online with your mastercard/debit cards issued you by your bankers, click pay online button select card type, select  card number, card security no, amount to pay, card pin, card exp. Date. Select process to finish transaction.