ABSTRACT
For the purpose of this chapter, primarily Internet banks are those that rely heavily, although not exclusively (e.g. telephone, ATM) on Internet as a delivery channel. For this reason, it is usual to refer to Internet banks as being ‘primarily’ Internet banks rather than Internet banks ‘only’. For the reminder of this chapter, the terms ‘Internet bank’ and ‘primarily Internet bank’ will be used interchangeably. To date, Internet banks have been substantially less profitable than traditional banks worldwide and this seems mainly explained by their higher overhead expenses.