INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
There is a great change witness today as a result of technological evolution, this evolution has touched every aspect of people’s life, and the banks are not left out. They have adopted this new height of technology through the use of electronic banking (e-banking).
In Nigeria the evolution of electronic banking (e-banking) was pioneered by small, new generation banks which started with the use of automatic teller machine (ATM) and later included telephone banking, direct bill payment, electronic fund transfer and online banking. These services offered by e-banks are changing and being improved because of the intense competition between banks and government policies.
The use of electronic banking system by banks has made banks to introduce new services products to satisfy the needs and desires of their customers. Banks started having heavy competition which was not common in the 1980s and the early 1990s. E-banking has result to changes in the characteristics of customers as a result of difference in e-banking and traditional banking. These characteristics prompt people and organizations in the country to have changes in their banking activities.
This various characteristics that emerge are either negative or positive towards the satisfaction of the customer on the service/product delivered. This evolution of e-banking prompt the emergence of newer banking services which are completely different from the service obtained in the traditional banking service to satisfy the customer with desired service.
This study will focus on the customer satisfaction of e-banking service of the First bank Nig. Plc. which was established in 1894 and the oldest bank in the country, the Jimeta-Yola main Branch of the First bank NigPlc. will be used as a case study. First bank NigPlc. Jimeta –Yola adopted e-banking with ATM in the year 2002 and has later introduce more e-banking services such as telephone-banking, direct bill payment, electronic fund transfer and online banking.
Currently the bank does not allow the withdrawal of cash of less than N100, 000.00 on counter from its cashiers, within the banking hall. These is due to the up-grading of their ATM cards from the magnetic stripe to the Euro-visa-master card standard (verve card), as it is more fraud resistant, and reduce long queues among many other reasons.
1.2 Statement of Problem
The satisfaction of the customer is the aim of the banker. In view of this, the banker has over the years used various approaches to stimulate the customer by providing quality service, and satisfying the needs of the customer. The e-banking system is adopted by banks to have a better and improve quality of their services delivery, how adequate is the quality of these services, are there infrastructures for such services/products and are such banks qualified to be called e-banks.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
The main objective of this study is to examine the importance of e-banking on the satisfaction of the customers. Other specific objectives are as follows:
1.4Hypothesis
In order to realize the objective of this study, focus would be on proofing the validity of the following hypothesis.
1.5 Significance of the Study
Electronic banking is critical in the transformation drive of banks in areassuch as products and services and how they are delivered to customers. Thus,it is seen as a valuable and powerful tool in the development, growth,promotion of innovation and enhancing competitiveness of banks. Given the significant role of electronic banking in the developmental drive of banks,information technology has been found to lead to improvement in business efficiency and service quality and hence attract customers as well as retain them.
Electronic banking contributes significantly to the distribution channels of banks such as automated teller machine (ATM), Phone-banking. Tele-banking.PC-banking and now internet banking. In addition, transfer of funds, viewing and checking savings account balances, paying mortgages,paying bills and purchasing financial instruments and certificates of deposits processes have improved significantly as a result of internet banking. This implies that, Electronic of the country to another and from both long and short distance.E-banking has made life much easier and banking much faster for but customer and banks. The significant of c-banking to government is providing easy flow of financial transaction.
1.6 Scope of the Study
The study focus on the satisfaction of e-banking service of customers of First bank NigPlc. Jimeta-Yola main Branch within Jimeta-Yola in Adamawa State.
1.7 Limitation of the Study
The major limitation of this study is the small sample size and has only involved the customers of First Bank Plc.,Jimeta-Yola Main Branch excluding the staff of the bank. The study is conducted within the months, which does not allow adequate time for more information materials; the bank was not ready to release some information for this study in the interest of security and protection of client.
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