Bank to the future

ENAR

Trying to achieve anything online in Lebanon can be a frustrating ordeal, so perhaps it’s no surprise that real growth of electronic banking has been late to emerge. According to several Lebanese banks surveyed by Executive, e-banking usage by their customers has increased in the past five years to between 25 and 30 percent, roughly on par with the global average as of April 2012 according to ComScore, a digital measuring and analytics firm. However, it is low compared to North America, which has a 40 percent to 50 percent usage rate. Across the board, the banks told Executive that they offer basic e-banking services such as checking account balances, transferring between one’s own accounts at the same bank and executing standing orders, meaning online transfers to a person or entity which has been registered as a beneficiary through a onetime personal authorization at the bank branch. The range of