| Abstract: | As the competitive environment become more turbulent in the banking industry, there is the need for the
adoption of e-banking service in the country, in order to enjoy high market share and competitive advantage.
The study therefore is conducted to assess the opportunities and challenges for the adoption of E-Banking
service in commercial Banks industry, taking four Commercial Banks in Ethiopia as target study area. The
main objective of this study is to assess opportunities and challenges for the adoption of E-Banking service
of commercial banks in Ethiopia. A descriptive research design is employed to conduct this study. Both
primary and secondary data are collected for the purpose of this study from the IT staff of each bank at
the head office level and bank web sites respectively. In addition, the finding shows that driving forces that
initiate banks to adopt e-banking services: existence of high competition in the banking industry, desire to
improve organizational performance, desire to reduce transaction cost, desire to cover wide
geographical area, and desire to build organizational reputation are among others. Chances of risk, Lack
of suitable legal and regulatory framework, absence of financial networks that links different banks,
Low level of internet penetration and poorly developed telecommunication infrastructure, high cost of
internet, security concerns are among the major challenges for the adoption of e-banking service in the
country. However, late adopter opportunities, improvement in the banking habit of the society, commitment of
the government to facilitate the expansion of ICT infrastructure and willingness among banks to
cooperate in building infrastructure are the major opportunities for the adoption of the system in the
banking industry. This is simply because; the adoption f e-banking is at infant stage the country. The study
suggests that Banks that are currently providing the service should promote the system in order to
raise public awareness on the use of e-banking service and the national bank of the country in
collaboration with all banks in the country should prepare typical security technologies applicable to
control system networks. |
