ABSTRACT
Many of the changes in banking technology that have taken place over the last twenty years or so have consisted of accounting and mechanical handling innovations of a ‘back office’ nature. Most of these have been of little direct interest to the consumer. More recently, automation has moved to the front of the counter – and increasingly outside the branch building altogether – in a way which has a more significant direct impact on banking services for consumers. ‘Back office’ and ‘front office’ forms of automation are closely interlinked, but we are mainly concerned in this section with the implications of developments in technology that affect consumers directly.
