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Finland is one of the world's leading countries within the field of electronic banking. Finnish banks have used e-banking in their operations for over 20 years. During the past few years, the use of e-banking has increased significantly because the fast development of information technology has allowed the offering of bank services directly to the customers' homes or places of work.
In the Nordic countries and, above all, in Finland, the Internet is widely used for leisure-time activities but also for commercial purposes. The use of the Internet has grown rapidly in Finland; in the beginning of 2001 there were approximately 149 hosts per thousand inhabitants, whereas a year before the number was 121. Ahead of Finland are only Iceland and the US.
The strong development of information technology has also had an impact on the Finnish financial sector. Finnish banks are pioneers in utilising information technology and offering banking services via the Internet. The Internet is nowadays also widely utilised in securities trading. As a sales channel for insurance products, the Internet is currently taking its first steps.
Like the Internet, the mobile phone penetration in Finland is among the highest in the world. Together with Iceland, Finland is the first country in the world to break the 70% penetration rate in mobile telephony. New technologies have made it possible to provide limited banking services by using mobile phones. Today in Finland, it is possible, inter alia, to view the balances and transactions of bank accounts, to pay bills, to transfer money from one account to another and even to access information regarding one's visa-card by using a mobile phone. In addition, the WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) technology makes it possible to access the Internet via mobile phones. The WAP technology will most likely open up more opportunities within the financial sector.
RANGE OF E-BANKING SERVICES
The range of the banking services offered via the Internet includes, inter alia, the following:
* account transactions;
* statements and balances;
* payments at home and abroad;
* loan application and loan granting; and securities trading.
Finnish banks have some two million client contracts on the use of the Internet for banking services (the total population of Finland being only approximately five million inhabitants). Furthermore, Finnish banks...