Online Financial Service Provision in Saudi Arabia

Furst, Lang & Nolle (2000) write that the Internet has been viewed as a valuable tool by bankers as well as lawmakers, other participants in the financial services industry in addition to regulators and business journalists around the world.

As financial institutions do away with paperwork and cut costs of employing clerks to handle paper transactions in conventional financial companies – customers’ lives are made easier as they do not have to visit their financial institutions to carry out necessary transactions (Furst, Lang & Nolle, p. 1).  Saving time equates to saving money in this scenario.  Thus, the entire economy benefits through greater efficiency of financial institutions when they open up their virtual branches on the World Wide Web.

How has the Saudi Arabian financial industry benefited from the advent of the Internet?  Are their factors that especially impede or support growth of online provision of financial services in Saudi Arabia?  How does e-commerce influence growth of online financial service provision across Saudi Arabia?

In order to answer these questions, my dissertation entitled, “A Study of Factors Influencing Growth of Online Financial Service Provision in Saudi Arabia” would require me to conduct online interviews with managers of major and minor financial institutions in Saudi Arabia.  This research would explore factors influencing growth of Internet banking in addition to online provision of other financial services, for example, insurance in Saudi Arabia.

Furthermore, this study would determine whether there are differences between Islamic and non-Islamic financial institutions as far as online financial service provision is concerned.  Lastly, this research would explore the target market for online financial service provision in Saudi Arabia, with the aim to develop customer profiles, taking gender into account.

REFERENCES

Furst, K, Lang, WW & Nolle, DE 2000, ‘Internet Banking: Developments and Prospects,’

Economic and Policy Analysis Working Paper 2000-9, Sep 2000. http://www.occ.treas.gov/ftp/workpaper/wp2000-9.pdf.