Electronic Banking in Ghana: A Case of GCB Bank Ltd

Abstract

The introductions of electronic banking products and services have changed the nature and way of financial service delivery to customers in Ghana. The purpose of this study is to gain an insight or a deep understanding into electronic banking products and services that customers subscribe to and to find out from both the bank and its customers perspective the benefits they enjoy and the challenges they are faced with whiles providing and accessing the facilities respectively. The methodology used to conduct this research consisted of questionnaires and interviews to collect data. Non-probability sampling which this research adopted and used provided a range of alternative techniques based on researchers’ subjective judgment. SPSS and Microsoft Excel were used for organizing, analyzing and interpreting the data collected. The population of interest was defined as retail customers of GCB Bank Ltd. The sample size for the study was 200 customers and 25 employees of GCB Bank Ltd. Data collection was conducted in four branches of GCB Bank Ltd in Kumasi. The study found out that ATM services were the most popular among users and constituted the main knowledge of customers as far electronic banking was concerned. It was followed by SMS or mobile banking. Similarly, that electronic banking was convenient and saves customers time was the major benefit for which reason most customers used the banks electronic products and currently persist. As a strategy, awareness of GCB electronic banking products and services is very essential to increase customer knowledge and usage since most of GCBs electronic banking products and services are new in Ghana and particularly to its customers. Effective presentations using all forms of media advertising such as leaflets, brochures, web pages etc will be useful to introduce the products and services to its customers and a wider audience. Finally, a high quality internet infrastructure and other systems support services and IT infrastructure should be provided by GCB since it is one of the primary requirements for electronic banking.

Keywords: E-banking, Internet banking, ATM, SMS, POS