Problems and Challenges in Regulating Internet Banking In Nigeria - Dissertation Example

Examining the Success/Failure of Online Banking in Nigeria Chapter One 1.0. Introduction The dissertation aims to examine the emergence of online banking in Nigeria. The research study analyses the progress of internet banking in the country to examine the success and failure factors. The study focuses upon the measures that have been taken by the government and the banking sector to facilitate the implementation of online banking and evaluates the progress of sector in terms of time, quality, technology usage, products, accessibility and service management. The study also discusses the progress of online banking in Nigeria from the perspective of diffusion of innovation and relative competitive advantage theories in order to evaluate the contribution of e-banking towards the economic development of the country. The study also examines the evolution of online banking in European countries in comparison with the African countries to identify the core differences and factors that result in the difference functioning of online banking in these regions. The spread and popularity of internet over the last two decades have paves the way towards the usage of internet for wide array of business related functions. The economies of different regions have witnessed the implication of different ICT tools within their business practice. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) is a broad area of research that includes consideration of issues such as, the usage and adoption of the Internet, usage of Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and high speed Internet products and services (Broadband) (Harrison and Dennis, 2004, p34). Internet has been considered an important new technology that has become part of daily life and has affected almost every aspect of the economy (Fillis et al, 2004, p191). Consequently, it is being viewed to be an enabling technology that can be used wisely or unwisely, in almost any industry and as part of almost any strategy (Porter, 2003). Recognising the potentials of ICTs, Governments and public sector are investing in ICTs. With no exception, the banking sectors all over the world are also going though transformational changes as ICT tools are playing integral role in routine operations of the banking sector (Adeyinka, 2000, p14). The evolution of E-commerce and internet banking has further paved the way for the implication of internet and ICT within banking sector. However, along with the adaptation of ICT tools it is also imperative that the banking sector must monitor and manage the adaptation of internet and other advanced technologies within their operations through practice of change management to assure that the sector is making positive use of evolving technologies. Nigeria has also shown some positive signs towards the adaptation of ICT in different sectors and the Nigerian Banking sector has adopted several tools of ICT like smart cards, electronic home and office banking, and telephonic banking in order to provide the consumers with update and advanced banking services (Adeyinka, 2000, p14). The dissertation aims to examine the progress of online banking in Nigeria by examining the time, quality and service management practice of Nigerian banks. The study examines the steps taken by the government and related authorities to compliment the process of implementation of internet tools within banking sector and the effects of these steps upon the acceptance and spread of online banking in the country. The dissertation identifies the effects of internet banking emergence from the perspectives of consumers as well as organizations. The dissertation reviews the Nigerian banking practice and performance before and after the adaptation of online banking tools like ATM, online bill payment facilities, electronic cheques and online fund transfer facilities to identify the major differences occurred within the banking sector. The study also analyzes the progress of online banking is Nigeria by examining the online banking services in terms of time, quality, technology usage, products, accessibility and service management. The dissertation employs a qualitative research approach to attain the stated objectives and examines the success or failure of online banking in Nigeria with the help of analysis of data and information gathered from the review of related literature and interviews of banking professionals and consumers. The stakeholders are interviewed to have their experiences after the implementation of internet banking in Nigeria. 1.1. Background Nigeria being the world’s major supplier of crude oil is among the influential members of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that produces millions of barrels of crude oil daily. It was among the middle income nation of the world during the 1970s and early 1980s (Omoruyi, 1991). However the world oil market collapse in early 1980s draw major impacts on the economic performance and development of the country and soon it fall in the list of 30 poorest nations of the world (Albert, 2000). The reason behind this abrupt economic downfall was the underperformance of non oil sectors like agriculture, manufacturing and banking sector. The banking sector is specifically viewed as an important sector that has the potential to foster the economic growth of the country however; the sector needs major reforms and restructuring policies to become stable and productive enough to support the economy (Tunde, 1999) The banking sector of Nigeria has gone through several reforms, amendments and structural changes since the establishment of the country. There have been different reforms and change policies implemented in the sector in order to foster its growth and expansion and enhance its performance (Tumor, 2005). The advent of latest communication and information technology conferred certain news options of development and expansion to the Nigerian banking sector and it is observed that during last few years there have been considerable change occurred within the Nigerian banking sector with regard to the use of latest technology and tools. At present there is variety of ICT products being adopted by the Nigerian bank to facilitate the customers with the provision of advanced banking services and there is gradual improvement occurring in the situation with respect to the use and updating of latest tools. The Nigerian banks didn’t provide the Automated Teller Machines, Smart Cards and telephone banking services till1996 however, most of the banks adopted the MICR and LAN technologies by 1998 due to which it became possible for the banks to provide these services to the customers. By the end of 2004, there were 14 banking networks in Nigeria that provide ATM services, 14 banks provide the facility of electronic fund transfer, 11 banks offer smart cards whereas 12 banks provide the telephone banking services. The quality of banking sector services has improved considerably in Nigeria as a result of the adaptation of the latest technologies and there are certain other advanced facilities also offered by some of the Nigerian banks like point of sales system. Electronic data exchange facilities, MICR cheques, electronic home and office banking etc. The provision of these services tend to have an obvious impact upon the consumers of the banks in Nigeria and it is expected that the sector will be able to provide more refined and advanced services to the banks in coming years. However, the successful adaptation of these tools is subjected to the proper change management to assure that the staffs of the banks is well trained and the consumers are well informed about the features of ICT backed banking services in Nigeria. 1.2. Aims and Objectives The main objective of the research study is to examine the failure or success of online banking in Nigeria by analysing the time, quality and service within the provision of different banking services of Nigerian banks. The study analyzes the effects of online banking evaluation upon the customers, organizations and other stakeholders to determine the contribution of online banking in enhancing overall performances of the Nigerian banking sector. The core objectives of the research study are as followed To discuss the evaluation and significance of internet banking and its contribution towards enhanced performance of the banking sectors all over the world To explain the role online banking could play in the development process of the countries To identify the differences among the online banking implementation practice of European and African countries to highlight the problems areas and flaws with the practice of African countries To evaluate the performance of Nigerian banking sector in terms of time, quality, technology usage, products, accessibility and service management within the online banking services provided by the banks in Nigeria. To examine the impact of ICT upon the change management practice during last ten years and its impact upon the consumers and organizations. To understand the experience of Nigeria banks and their customers before and after the adaptation of online banking in the country. 1.3. Research Scope The dissertation employs a qualitative research approach to attain the stated objectives and explore the change management practice in the light of data and information gathered from the review of related literature and interviews of banking professionals and consumers. The stakeholders are interviewed to have their experiences after the implementation of internet banking in Nigeria. The examination of the success or failure of online banking in Nigeria is an important issue. The effects and importance of evolution of internet banking upon the economic development of different nations have been studies by different researches from time to time while focusing upon different countries and regions. In continuation to these researches, the dissertation analyses the progress of online banking in Nigeria with the help of qualitative data collected from different secondary and primary sources of information. The expected outcome of the study would be a valuable contribution to the existing literature and along with that; the results are expected to have practical implication within policy making, business and academic spheres. The study is intended to analyze the progress of online banking in Nigeria in order to identify the flaws within the sector. The identification of these flaws would help the policy makers because they could take some necessary steps for the removal of these weaknesses from the system. The study describes the present status of ICT products usage within the sector that could also be useful for the policy makers as they could formulate future policies accordingly to improve and enhance the use of ICT in the sector. Moreover, the dissertation also provides an insight over the experiences of the customers after getting the facilities of online banking in Nigeria. It also uncovers the issues that hinder the fast adaptation of online banking services in Nigeria by collecting the experiences of the early adopters and late adopters of the online banking tools. The study also proposes some practicable suggestions for better change management practice to facilitate online banking in Nigeria like the steps and policies that need to be taken for facilitating the process of implementation and popularity of online banking in Nigeria. These recommendations would be formulated to address the policy makers as well as the operators and managers of the banking industry. The executives operating in the banking sector could also found some useful information and ideas for brining improvement in the sector and they could reflect these recommendations through their upcoming strategies and policies. Along with the policy making and business world the research study is expected to have great academic scope. The dissertation also strives to provide extensive research based information, facts and figures about the Nigerian Banking sector and the change management practice that are gathered through authentic resources like database of Nigerian government, banks and other organizations like WTO etc. The report will be a useful resource for the students to acquire information about Nigerian banking sector, the history of reforms introduced within the sector, the effects of these reforms, the reasons behind failure of these reforms and the directions for future research work. In this way, it is expected that the outcome of the study would be beneficial for all the people and institutions associated with the topic of the study. 1.4 Brief Description of Research Method The research study is based upon qualitative research approach. The qualitative research could be of several types, as it is identified by Berg (1989) there are many ways of conducting a qualitative research including “case study, literature review, natural experiment, participant observation, interviews based, and secondary analysis of data or combination of these.” Keeping in view the aims and objectives of the study, it is decided to select case study as the research methods. It was decided to conduct a case study because case study is a significant tool that helps in gaining understanding of a complex issue or object. Case study is an empirical study that aims at investigating any contemporary phenomenon in its real life style context (Yin, 1984). For arguments indicated above, the Case Study was found to be most relevant and useful for conducting this dissertation as it enables a deep analysis of the issues. For this dissertation the basic sources of data collection are “Documents and Interviews”. The interviews of fifty banking professionals and fifty consumers have been conducted to gather their opinions and experiences regarding the management of ICT implementation in the sector. The professionals and consumers have been accessed through different means like social contacts and business directories, etc. Interviews for the study have been conducted using variety of methods like face to face, email, web based, telephonic interviews and paper/portal questionnaire. The banking professionals and customers are divided in different groups for conducting the interviews. The participants have been divided in two groups; early adopters (18-25 years old) and the late adopters (50 and above years old). There are total of 200 interviews conducted for the study in which 100 participants are selected from urban areas (50 participants of 18-25 age groups and 50 participants of 50and above age group) whereas 100 participants (50 participants of 18-25 age group and 50 participants of 50 and above age group) are selected from rural areas. 1.5. Outline of Dissertation Chapter Description Summary Introduction This chapter provides an overview of the entire dissertation and will contain basic information about the subject. It gives a general idea of what the dissertation is all about, about the research questions and topic under investigation. The main objective of conducting the research study and the method to achieve the stated objective are also specified in this chapter. The dissertation aims to present the case study of Nigerian Banking sector in order to analyze the practice of change management using a qualitative research approach Literature Review The chapter reviews the available related literature to provide extensive information and understand of all the issues associated with the topic of the research. The involved concepts, models and history of changes and reforms introduced into the sectors are described in this chapter. The chapter affirms the importance of change management for assuring the effectiveness of introduced reform within any sector. It is also found that Nigerian banking sector experiences phases of reforms but proper management of this change is not administered. Research Method The chapter specifies the research approach selected to attain the research gaol. It also explains the model and framework that has been selected to analyse the change management practice. The case study of Nigerian banking sector is prepared using interviews, secondary analysis of data and documents. Finding The chapter presents the findings of the study in order to present a clear picture what has been attained through the study The summary of the chapter will be written after completing the research and writing the chapter Analysis The chapter analyzes the key findings of the research study in order to find the answer of the research question The summary of the chapter will be written after completing the research and writing the chapter Evaluation The chapter evaluates the research work in term of the achievements of the desired goals. It identifies the factors that have positively and negatively affected the outcome of the study The summary of the chapter will be written after completing the research and writing the chapter 1.6. Summary The chapter provides an overview of the entire research study by explaining the main motive behind the research, the research aims and objectives, methodology and the scope of the study. In this chapter the background of the research study is explained to provide an understanding about the topic of the dissertation. Moreover the aims and objectives of research are further explained to highlight the intentions behind conducting the study research study. CHAPTER TWO 2.0. Literature Review 2.1. Introduction The chapter presents the review of related available literature in order to provide the conceptual framework of the study. The chapter explicitly defines the background issues and concepts associated with the notion of project management and explain different approached and issues related with project management. In addition, the chapter also reviews the literature concerning the progression and current status of online banking in Nigeria to show the path of adaptation of online banking followed by the Nigerian banks. The studies focusing upon the evolution of online banking are also reviewed to understand the significance of the issue from the perspective of economic development of nations. 2.2. Project Management – Significance for Businesses The term Project refers to a temporary activity that is initiated at specific date to attain some defined targets using decided human and financial resources within a specified time period. It is essential that the project has its specific objectives so that the required resources could be arranged and manage following certain plan or model (James, 2002). A project is also called planning to accomplish a particular goal that requires the coordination between certain human and environmental factors. The concept of project was widened with the introduction of the phenomenon of project management in 1950s that associate certain technique of management with a project and gave it the name of project management (Kerzner, 2009). Project management possesses great importance in the business world because it is widely believed that the successful operations of every scale and type of business organization depend upon the successful accomplishment of its defined targets that can be met through proper project management (Means and Adams, 2005). There are several important reasons due to which it is considered very essential for the organizations to use project management for the accomplishment of their objectives and tasks. Project management is supposed to be a well organized process that assists the organization attaining their goals (Bradley, 2000, p98). Project management is among the key strategies that assure the success of any type of organization or business. The proper project management results in a well planned activity that is conducted making proper use of human and physical resources to increase the productivity of the organization. Different phases of the project lifecycle organize different tasks properly that increase the probability of the success of the project and reduces the risks associated with the project (Gabor et al, 2006). Project management also provides the financial estimates of the tasks that allow the organizations to keep their projects within the defined budgets and avoid the situation where they face the shortage of funds (Bradley, 2000, p98). The allocation of different responsibilities results in proper management and utilization of human resource that is also an important benefit of project management. The entire discussion could be sum up with the conclusion that project management is the key to the success of an organization because proper management of projects determines the success level of the companies and help them meeting their strategic objectives (Cadle and Yeates, 2007). 2.3. Project Management – Issues and Concepts The complexity and scope of each project depends upon the nature of the business and the industry and sector in which the business operates, however the management of a project is equally important for the businesses operating in each sector and scale (Janssen, 2006). In order to ensure the proper management of project, it has been divided in different stages that are referred as the phases of project life cycle. The traditional approach towards the notion of project management proposes five stages or phases of the project management process. These phases are the logical sequence of the activities associated with the commencement of a project (Means and Adams, 2005). These phases include “initiation, planning and designing, execution, monitoring and controlling and closure”. There are certain new approaches also introduced to the arena of project management. Along with the traditional approach, the supervisors and managers of different business industries also use to adopt the modern approach of project management for effective management of their projects. Some of these advanced approaches include PRINCE2, Critical chain project management and Extreme Project Management (Bradley, 2000, p98). Each of these approaches has proved its own significance and broader implication to different sector of business (Bradley, 2005). An important and advanced project management approach is “Projects IN Controlled Environment - Prince2” that is a product recognized as a world class standardized project management method (Bradley, 2005, p98). It is a pre-planned move towards the project management that explicitly explains the methods of managing the project, developing the resources for the project and establishing the connection and interfaces between staff, project and its environment (Nelson and Hopkins, 2006). PRINCE2 was established in 1989 by CCTA (the central Computer and Telecommunications Agency), which renamed the OGC (the Office of Government Commerce). PRINCE2 do not deals with all of the features of project, such as network planning and supporting software packages, social and communication skills, which could be an advantage of the method (Bradley, 2005). It provides them a system that ties together these resources and allows the group to incorporate and work simultaneously efficiently on a project (Nelson and Hopkins, 2006). Another advanced project management methodology is critical chain project management that refers to the method of planning and managing the projects while focusing mainly towards the physical and human resources required for the execution of the project tasks. The method is basically derived from the Theory of Constraints and explains the implication of this theory to the projects (Harrison and Dennis 2004). The basic purpose of this method is to increase the trade of throughput projects of an organization by fostering their completion rate. It has implication within almost every sector of business and industry. It proposes that regardless of project type the project plan is necessarily suppose d to undergo resource levelling and resource constrained tasks in order to identify the critical chain (Stevensm, 2002). 2.4 Evolution of Online Banking The popularity of internet in the last 1990s also penetrated the wave of awareness among the supervisors of the banking sectors that they could use internet as a strategic tool for enhancing their services and performances (Clayton and Waldron, 2002, p176). The banking sector was very much attracted towards the implementation of online banking because they see lots of cost and time saving benefits like reduction of transaction cost, effective integration of the banking services, possibility of interactive marketing and possibilities of increase in customers and profits. Internet based banking also allow the provision of wide range of banking services under a single package and thus proved to be beneficial for the banks, individual customers and organizations (Liao and Cheung, 2002, p283). The process of evolution of internet banking became internationally popular in 2000. Microsoft introduced banking network in 1994 and by 1997 there were 4.2 million U.S. users that use to perform their banking transactions online (Tigre, 2003, p34). Within few years, the trend of online banking was spread around the globe and after the developed nations; the developing countries also started taking the steps for adopting internet based banking (Nyberg, 2002, p98). It is found that at present the consumers commonly perform their banking operations using internet because they found it flexible and effective manner of conducting their baking transactions (Maureen, 2010, p8). Arnaboldi and Claeys (2008, p6) conducted an empirical investigation to examine the progress of online banking by European countries and came up with the results that the incorporation of internet based banking within the banking functions of European nations has allowed the banks to avail certain competitive edge within their business models. At the same time, the customers are also benefited by the use of extensive technological innovations within the banking services. Unlike European countries, African countries express quite difference response towards the implementation of internet based banking. In Europe, the practice of online banking became popular very quickly and there was much openness and awareness regarding the usage of internet for banking operations. African countries are typically considered as region of the world where there is little awareness and willingness for commencing the process of unusual expansion of innovation and technology. Tigre and O’Connor (2002, p245) studied the evolution of online banking in African and pointed out that the spread of internet was very slow in African countries as compared with the European nations and thus, it took a long time to internet banking tools to find some ways within typical banking structures of African banking sector. Tiger (2003, p34) found that African countries like Brazil and Nigeria show some positive signs of willingness towards the adopting internet banking but these countries also failed to carry out the process of implementation on online banking like European nations due to certain constraints like lack of adequate financial and technological support and slow pace of internet usage penetration in the regions. Despite all these barriers, online banking has become popular way of conducting banking operations in African countries however this development is not at the level of European countries because due to high numbers of internet users and availability of more advanced internet based services, the European banks are performing the online banking services in more effective and advanced manner as compared with those of African countries. 2.5. Importance of Time, Quality and Service within Project Management Practice There are some critical issues that must have properly addressed by the project management plans. For successful execution and completion of projects, it is very essential that the project managers must formulate and adopt appropriate strategies for assuring the quality of the service within time (Stevens, 2002, p121). In order to ascertain the presence of these elements within the project it is imperative that the managers must develop effective project plan that demonstrate the company’s strategies for the attainment of these elements. These issues could be adequately addresses through the employment of project control plan that allows the management to keep their projects on track, on time and within budget. In this way, the issues of time, finance and service quality could be assured within a project (Bradley, 2005). The importance of quality, time and service monitoring is an important area of concern for the project managers due to which, time management and quality management have been regarded as fundamental branches of project management. Quality management allows the evaluation and testing of the activities and their contribution towards the final durables. The management also examines that the activities and contributions must meet the relevant standard decided for the task. Project time management helps managers to develop a procedure for managing the project related activities in a schedule so that all of the activities could be commenced within the decided time. Work breakdown structure is also used for effective time management of a project. Moreover, the end services are also required to be of desired level to affirm the success of the project (Stevensm, 2002). 2.6. Development of African Countries, Diffusion of Innovation and Relative Competitive Advantage The development of African countries has been regarded as a complex phenomenon due to the existence of certain problematic areas within their socio-political systems (Mennasemay, 1992, p223). The evolution of the conception of contemporary Africa has been surrounded by several important barriers like mismanagement of resources, corruption and lack of innovation adoptability within manufacturing and agricultural sectors. There have been several efforts exerted to fuel up the economic development process in the African region and it is found that there are great opportunities as well as adversity and challenges exist within the socio political and economic sphere of Africa that make the task of introducing development initiatives more complex and challenging. However, during the last few years some of the African countries like Nigeria and South Africa have shown the positive signs of development and awareness towards the implementation of advanced and innovative machineries, procedures and ideas within different sectors of their economy (Andreasson, 2005, p971). The social scientists and theorists have proposed several ways through which the developing nations of Africa can foster the pace of their economic development. Roger (1995) proposes the theory of diffusion of innovation and stresses that the countries struggling with their economies like African nations have to focus towards the process of diffusion of innovation as it allows the communication of new ideas and thoughts through certain channels among the social system members. In this way, the innovative ideas become popular and it becomes possible to implement any new system in the society on the base of that innovation (Roger, 1995, p84). The African countries also need the diffusion of new ideas within their systems so that they could adopt latest technologies and implement innovative ideas and procedures within their system (Mennasemay, 1992, p223). Another important conception associated with the development backed by technological advancements in relative competitive advantage. It basically refers to the extent up to which a person has been enabled to avail the benefits of innovations by replacing it with other ways of performing the same task (Brown and Venkatesh, 2005, p399). It is an important conception within the discipline of project management and change management because it determines how the consumers would be facilitated through the advantages being offered by the innovative products or procedures. The proper project management works to maximize the level of benefits of innovation over the other methods traditionally used for the accomplishment of same process (Brown and Venkatesh, 2005, p399). Summary The chapter presents the review of the literature that focuses upon the issues and concepts associated with the topic of the dissertation. The information provided in the chapters presents an overview of the related concepts and issues from the perspectives of the outcome of the prior conducted research studies. Furthermore, the theoretical perspective of It is unveiled from the above analysis of data that effective project management is the key to organizational success and there are different approached towards project management that allow the managers to monitor and manage their projects in the direction of attaining their objectives. The chapter also provide insight over the history and current status of online banking in Nigeria and affirms that the Nigerian banking sector has significantly progressed towards the adaptability of online banking however, there is need of heavy investments to boost up the entire process. References Arnaboldi, F. and Claeys, P. (2008). Internet Banking in Europe: a comparative analysis. Research Institute of Applied Economics 2008 Working Papers 2008/11, 28 pages Adeyinka Adeyemi, Adoption of E-Banking Service Arising in Nigeria, Trade Invest Nigeria. Andreasson, A. (2005). 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