the objectives, thus the research is descriptive and as a result quantitative methods have been used. The findings indicate that the entire hypotheses are supported positively the effectiveness of e-banking environment in customer service, and provide valuable information for banking industry, hopefully. Key

by banks and point at its costs and benefits. This leads to an examination of the interrelationship between the competitive environment and relationship banking as well as a discussion of the empirical evidence.

In this paper, we report on the deployment of an agentbased extension to an electronic banking environment which has been developed in cooperation with a software company specializing in electronic banking solutions. During development of a prototype we made valuable experiences concerning

T he financial market turmoil in 2007 and 2008 has led to the most severefinancial crisis since the Great Depression and threatens to have largerepercussions on the real economy. The bursting of the housing bubble forced banks to write down several hundred billion dollars in bad loans caused

The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the World Bank, its Executive Directors, or the countries they represent. Acknowledgements: We would like to thank Anke Höffler for research

are available from the Environment Department of the World Bank by calling 202-473-3641. The International Bank for Reconstruction

and (2) rigorously enforces contracts have better developed banks than countries where laws do not give a high priority to creditors and where enforcement is lax. Furthermore, the exogenous component of banking development -- the component defined by the legal environment -- is positively and robustly

. On the other hand, security breaches and transaction fraud have been on the rise more recently, warranting a highly secure banking environment. Biometric technology appeals to many banking organisations as a near perfect solution to such security threats. However, due to the close association of biometrics

-based financial systems is analytically vacuous. According to this view, the critical issue is establishing a legal environment in which both banks and markets can operate effectively. This paper represents the first broad, cross-country examination of which view of financial structure and economic growth is most

by a convergence process. Bank appreisal in a competitive and volatile market environment is a complex process wich normally centers around the analysis of particular aspects, including risk profile and management, financial statements, portofolio structure and quality policies and practicies, human