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What are basic banking services?

Basic banking services include a payment account with basic features and an instrument for using the account (e.g. a debit card and online banking ID), the possibility to withdraw cash, the execution of payment transactions and an electronic means of identification. Basic banking services, on the other hand, do not include accounts with an overdraft facility or various kinds of credit cards. Online banking solutions have many features and capabilities in common, but traditionally also have some that are application specific.


What are basic payment account services?

Basic payment account services include the following (not an exhaustive list):

  • services to open, use and close a basic payment account
  • depositing funds
  • withdrawing cash in an EEA country
  • execution of payment transactions by credit transfer, for example in online services, at bank branches and at bank terminals, as well as credit transfers by standing order, direct payments and direct debits
  • execution of payment transactions with a payment card online.
  • The number of service transactions cannot be capped.


The common features fall broadly into several categories:

  • Transactional (e.g., performing a financial transaction such as an account to account transfer, paying a bill, wire transfer, apply for a loan, new account, etc.)
  • Payments to third parties, including bill payments and telegraphic/wire transfers
  • Funds transfers between a customer's own transactional account and savings accounts
  • Investment purchase or sale
  • Loan applications and transactions, such as repayments of enrollments
  • Non-transactional (e.g., online statements, cheque links, cobrowsing, chat)
  • Viewing recent transactions
  • Downloading bank statements, for example in PDF format
  • Viewing images of paid cheques
  • Financial Institution Administration
  • Management of multiple users having varying levels of authority
  • Transaction approval process

Features commonly unique to Internet banking include:

Personal financial management support, such as importing data into personal accounting software. Some online banking platforms support account aggregation to allow the customers to monitor all of their accounts in one place whether they are with their main bank or with other institutions.

The precursor for the modern home online banking services were the distance banking services over electronic media from the early 1980s. The term online became popular in the late '80s and referred to the use of a terminal, keyboard and TV (or monitor) to access the banking system using a phone line. 'Home banking' can also refer to the use of a numeric keypad to send tones down a phone line with instructions to the bank. Online services started in New York in 1981 when four of the city's major banks (Citibank, Chase Manhattan, Chemical and Manufacturers Hanover) offered home banking services using the videotex system. Because of the commercial failure of videotex these banking services never became popular except in France where the use of videotex (Minitel) was subsidised by the telecom provider and the UK, where the Prestel system was used.

The UK's first home online banking services was set up by Bank of Scotland for customers of the Nottingham Building Society (NBS) in 1983. The system used was based on the UK's Prestel system and used a computer, such as the BBC Micro, or keyboard (Tandata Td1400) connected to the telephone system and television set. The system (known as 'Homelink') allowed on-line viewing of statements, bank transfers and bill payments. In order to make bank transfers and bill payments, a written instruction giving details of the intended recipient had to be sent to the NBS who set the details up on the Homelink system. Typical recipients were gas, electricity and telephone companies and accounts with other banks. Details of payments to be made were input into the NBS system by the account holder via Prestel. A cheque was then sent by NBS to the payee and an advice giving details of the payment was sent to the account holder. BACS was later used to transfer the payment directly.

Stanford Federal Credit Union was the first financial institution to offer online internet banking services to all of its members in October 1994.

Today, many banks are internet only banks. Unlike their predecessors, these internet only banks do not maintain brick and mortar bank branches. Instead, they typically differentiate themselves by offering better interest rates and online banking features.



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