ABSTRACT
Recent advances in information and communication technology have modified the ways in which customers have access to banks’ services and products, leading to a new model of banking (PC and Internet banking, telephone banking) which represents a major change in relation to the most traditional model, mainly based in branch networks. Yet this is no more than the last wave of technological advances which are being incorporated in bank activity since several decades ago. Information processing and storage by electronic means, electronic trading and settlement systems, electronic means of payment and automated teller machines are a few examples of this process. The new technologies make possible cost saving transformations in the production process which may improve efficiency in data management and risk control. Together with these potential benefits there are some other more uncertain effects like some changes in the nature and balance of risks faced by banking institutions.
