Developing e-banking capabilities in a Ghanian bank: preliminary lessons

There is relatively little known about electronic banking (e-banking) in developing countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. This paper addresses this knowledge drawing from the lessons a Ghanaian bank learned whilst developing its e-banking capabilities. The paper explores some of the issues that affected the key decisions that the bank made. These decisions relate to entering e-banking, e-banking channel choice, e-banking development, enticing customers, and managing channel conflict. The findings indicate that operational constraints related to customer location, the need to maintain customer satisfaction and the capabilities of the Bank's main software have been influential factors in motivating the decision to enter electronic banking services. The bank's electronic channel choice is influenced by the systemic competence of a software technology that the bank acquired and the nature of the diffusion of information and communications technology among its clientele group. Technological and human resources capabilities together with the development of electronic transactions in the Ghanaian market influenced the e-banking development. The sophistication of the current e-banking services and the incremental approach followed in rolling out e-banking appear to influence strategies to entice customers and channel conflict issues. The paper concludes by highlighting the need for African Banks to understand customers' needs; the corresponding services to offer; the resources and partnerships required to offer it; and develop appropriate e-banking strategies that maximize value for both customers and banks