ABSTRACT
Together with the emergence of an increasing degree of similarity in commercial-banking operations, there has also been much technical development over the years. We may not yet have attained the cashless society that was first adumbrated quite some time ago, but as a result of the switch to new technologies particularly in the electronics and information fields, many new techniques have been introduced which have provided much more convenient servicing of bank customers, increased speed and efficiency in transmitting monetary items, as well as an increasing range of ancillary packages. The systems do not, however, always work perfectly and computer and electronic breakdowns are not uncommon. One suspects, too, that computer breakdown is not infrequently an excuse for the development of faults elsewhere in the system. Even more worrying is the rapid growth in cheque-card and credit-card fraud, the criminal abuse of computer technology, and the like. The Brave New World has not achieved its successes without a measure of social and financial cost.
