By Hind-Lara Mango

The “Relationship Banking Revolution and the Internet” seminar brought together local bank managers and senior executives to promote on-line banking in Jordan.

“The explosive growth of the internet is causing many enterprises to rethink their business practices,” said Zena Sati managing director of Comcent Trading and Contracting Co., the organiser of the seminar.

“Banking markets have begun to recognise the opportunity to conduct business online and the momentum towards online banking is increasing,” Sati said.

Electronic commerce is proving to give business a competitive advantage. Approximately 90 per cent of all banking transactions occur electronically today.

By bringing online banking to mass markets, banks hope to increase the number of electronic transactions and thereby reduce costs substantially.

“The number of Jordanian internet subscribers is growing daily with individuals the primary users,” said Abdullah Rifai, managing director of International Data Exchange.

Internet was first introduced to Jordan in 1993 with the establishment of the National Information Centre (NIC) affiliated to the Higher Council for Science and Technology. the service became a reality to the public a year later.

For banking transactions to take place through the Internet in Jordan proper infrastructure must be established. Rifai noted that only small businesses were using this service.

“The lack of proper national infrastructure and telephone lines in some areas,” and scarce digital transmission lease lines, were obstacles facing the internet market in Jordan, he explained.

Seminar participants described “back-breaking” bureaucracy and the high-cost international bandwidth and local phone line installations as the largest hindrances to internet growth in the Kingdom.

The use of the Internet for banking operations requires that the legal system be adapted.

“A court requires a legal signature on financial transactions as a means of identification. With the use of the Internet in banking, this is no longer viable. Signatures are now digital,” one participant told the Jordan Times.

The “E-commerce,” as it is known, and brokering is fast becoming a commercial and public access network. It has doubled in size every year since 1988 and now has more than 35 million global users.

Seven out of the top 10 European banks have installed internet banking systems in the past year.

“The branching of banks will cease as a result of internet banking,” said Ron Downey, co-founder of the Dublin based CR2 Limited, an international internet banking solution provider.

He told the Jordan Times that Lloyds of London Limited will be closing one third of its branches in England because of internet banking.”

Information security is the main challenge faced by internet banking.

“People can attack your system or spoof their identity. But with existing technologies and their correct implementation, a secure system can be ensured,” said Leo Corcoran, of the European Baltimore Information Security Specialists, one of the world's largest suppliers of E-commerce and enterprise security.

“Weak incription or an electronic key, can be easily broken. But a strong incription prevents any computer system from breaking it. Hackers who try to break security use brute force attack. They try to unscramble the key,” said Corcoran to the Jordan Times.

Back to April 20th, 1999