A Delphi study of Internet banking

Deregulation has brought down the boundaries of the banking industry, allowing new entrants and enabling a greater degree of competition. Into this scenario arrived the Internet – another radical technological innovation with the potential to change the structure and nature of banking. Many banks have adopted the Internet as a delivery channel (indeed, some banks have set up as Internet‐only delivery). This paper reports a Delphi study of the Internet momentum in banking. Informed by diffusion of innovation theory, the study sought to discern the key issues and to explore the future of Internet banking. The results show that Internet banking is a very important issue in retail banking. However, the Internet will contribute as part of a multi‐channel (bricks and clicks) strategy, rather than as a stand‐alone (clicks only) strategy. The developing functionality of Internet banking may enable some banks to achieve competitive advantage through delivering higher perceived customer value.