Customers’ perceptions towards online banking services in Malta

Abstract

The way technology and the internet have developed in recent years has changed the approach taken by many organisations in order to operate and conduct their business. This is without any doubt the case with banking institutions, and one very important element which evolved as a result of technology and innovation is online or internet banking. Local banks in Malta have adapted to this new way of conducting business in order to stay in line with competition, but also due to the number of added benefits that are associated with such a system. Apart from the service provider, the ultimate end user of internet banking gains from various advantages as well. The aim of this dissertation is to find out what has affected customers, or is still affecting them today, in starting to use online banking services or otherwise. Ultimately, and vitally for banking institutions, customers‟ perceptions on what they would like to change or add in relation to internet banking will help the local banks in Malta to better understand what their clients want and to try and satisfy their needs when possible. The methodology of this research is quantitative as it involves a questionnaire with a number of questions which vary from close-ended to open-ended and which was distributed mainly through the internet. According to this study the percentage of internet banking users in Malta is very high, however there are still those that believe that the traditional way of doing banking is more appropriate for their needs and thus it is important to understand exactly what the wants of these non-users of online banking are. The obtained results suggest that the main factors that both users and nonusers of internet banking would like to change or add include: the fees and/or the transfer charges between one bank and the other, a more user friendly system and/or more knowledge about the service, and increased safety and security. Recommendations both from the customers‟ and the researcher‟s point of view were given for local banks in Malta in order to be able to improve their online banking services.