Economic Aspects of Electronic Commercein Financial Services and AdvantageousSteps to Extended Offers in Internet Banking

In this paper we report on the results of two projectsour research group is presently conducting. We start outwith sketching preliminary results of a long-term governmentproject geared to reveal efficiency conditions forsuccessful electronic commerce particularly in thefinancial services field. We address questions relating tothe innovative use of new channels for distributingfinancial services focusing on Internet banking. Ourgovernment research funds are devoted to help Germanfinancial services firms on their way into the digitaleconomy and particularly to advise German banks inapplying Internet technology in novel ways to new andpromising applications. Thus, along with the researchsketched above, we are engaged in a joint project with aninnovative German bank, the Munich-based AdvanceBank. This direct banking firm is currently extending itstelephone banking technology by simultaneouslyemploying Internet communication for consultationintensivecustomer processes such as mortgage loans(intelligently combined with other financial products).Based on our joint project, we present a brief case studyof the bank’s market and technology strategy and identifysome problems encountered when employing Internettechnology to open new markets successfully....