APPRAISAL AND CHALLENGES OF INTERNET BANKING SYSTEM IN NIGERIA BANKING ENVIRONMENT

ABSTRACT: The main  objective of this study is focused on an appraisal and challenges of internet banking system in Nigeria banking environment using Access Bank PLC, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja as case study.. The study will further investigate whether challenges associated to internet banking discourages customers usage in Nigeria banking environment. This research is reported in five distinct yet interrelated chapters. In the chapter one we describes the study objectives clearly by stating the motive behind this study. Research hypotheses were developed for testing while the scope of this research was defined as well. The research adopted the survey descriptive design and with the aid of convenience sampling method, the researcher  conveniently selected eighty (80) participant who are staff in Access Bank PLC, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Self- structure questionnaire was issued to the respondent of which  seventy-seven (77) responses were retrieved and validated for the study. The study made use of of descriptive analysis and inferential statistics where data from field survey was analyzed using simple percentage, mean and standard deviation presented in frequencies and tables. Hypothesis test was conducted using Chi-Square Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS v.23).Findings of the study reveals that the benefit of internet banking includes; fast settlement of transactions, reduction in the rate of visits to banks, enhancement of Cashless Society, easier way of clearing imported goods and reduction of theft. Finding of the study further further establish that the  challenges of internet banking system in Nigeria banking environment includes increasing the technical complexity of banks’ operation, transactions prone to error, security threat, regulatory challenges, fraud risk & money laundering associated with e-transaction. The study concludes that challenges associated to internet banking discourages customers usage in Nigeria banking environment. The study recommends therefore that Issuers of electronic transactions will need to take great care to ensure that the danger of counterfeiting is minimized and they must be very vigilant in monitoring their systems and operations so that fraud can be detected quickly when it occurs. They should constantly upgrade hardware and software whenever a new feature of enhancing security becomes available.