ADDIS ABABA- Equal engagement of all actors in the financial industry is crucial to enhance the existing slow penetration of internet and mobile banking in Ethiopia, which is at the lowest level even in the East African standards, banking and IT expert said. The expert, Dr. Asmamaw Atnafu, told The Ethiopian Herald that poor infrastructural facilities and internet connection as well as frequent power interruption and cash-dependent transaction seriously affect the expansion and reliability of e-banking services.
The expert, who is also owner of American College of Technology, said that public’s limited awareness about e-banking and language and literacy barriers as well as lack of financial networks and skilled human power are also attributed to the slow penetration of the technology. Despite the stated shortcomings, both Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) and privately-owned banks have made commendable activities in investing and modernizing e-banking system in a view to bringing convenience and accessibility for customers.
According to him, the banks aggressive move to introduce and expand electronic banking is paying them off in improving organizational efficiency and profitability whilst e-banking practice is growing at a significant level due to government’s unreserved support in introducing and implementing different e-payment infrastructures. Capitalizing on the existing platforms, both CBE and private banks have continued their fierce competition for better market share through providing modern e-banking services including Automated Teller Machine (ATM), Point-of-Sale (POS), Internet Banking, and Mobile Banking.
The expert expressed his optimism that the tariff cut Ethio-telecom was recently introduced helps to increase the number of internet banking subscribers and enables customers to enjoy variety of services, especially those not provided by traditional banks. E- banking also increases reliability and accessibility of services and address the safety problems customers used to face in carrying huge amount of money for transaction. Dr. Asmamaw noted the government should give utmost priority to avert power and internet disruptions through developing information technology infrastructure and support the banks engagement towards the introduction and implementation of e-banking services.
The biggest responsibility vested on the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) to formulate feasible legal and regulatory frameworks that require the use of e-banking in domestic and international transactions. The banks, in their part, should focus on employing technology to enhance their accessibility and competitiveness instead of the traditional way of branch expansion and they ought to build technological capacity and transform the manual banking practice to electronic one.
Concerning the vulnerability of Ethiopia’s banking system for cyberattacks, the scholar said that the availability of limited dollar accounts and country’s comparatively small financial capacity unmotivated international computer hackers from committing the breach. On the other hand, some local computer hackers could breach individuals and corporates confidential financial data. He indicated that the muchpublicized international cyber-attacks against private and public entities could create hesitation on customers about the safety of their money and force them to turn their face towards traditional money depositing systems.
To overcome the challenge, Dr. Asmamaw stated that the banks should maintain the hardware and software protection activities and offer their staff trainings and other capacity building programs on cyberattacks to effectively curtail the threat. Informing the public on ways to protect individual accounts is also something worth equal consideration. The NBE needs to put in place continuous assessment and execute compatibility audit to regulate how safely the commercial banks hold public money and take corrective measures when problem arises, the expert highlighted.
The Ethiopian Herald May 21/ 2019
BY BILAL DERSO
