Virtual Banking Revolution: The Customer, the Bank & the Future

Everybody talks about e-banking as if they know exactly what they are talking about, but all too often, they're just repeating some fairly shallow viewpoints they read in the business sections of the nationals. This excellent book, instead, sets the whole virtual banking revolution in perspective, tracing its origins during the 1970s and 1980s, and arguing persuasively that the whole business of e-banking is essentially a continuation of the battle which banks have always fought to justify their existance as fundamentally unnecessary 'middle-men' who are permanently terrified of being left out of the customer/seller equation. Full of juicy material which operates at both a strategic and tactical level, and particularly strong on the challenge posed by newcomers to the banking industry (Essinger calls these 'gatecrashers'), I think this book is essential reading for anybody who wants to master the developments in banking which are defining how the industry will develop during the 21st century.