Demand grows for banking from home

Ø 1) What banking services can be transacted from home (open an account, pay bills, transfer between accounts, receive information about mortgages, loan money, etc.)?

Ø 2) Look at the phrases, taken from the text: banking from home, to launch a 24-hour banking service, to open an account, to pay bills, mortgage, to transfer, insurance schemes, a savings account, to transact. What do they mean?

Banking from home is growing in popularity. Almost everything you can do in a bank can now be transacted from the comfort of your home.

Tyson Service Bank (TSB), whose new 24-hour banking service will be launched in the coming weeks, is the latest bank to join the ranks of phone banking service providers. “Much of this has been going on in an informal way for a long time, ” said TSB’s Head of Marketing Sean Curtiss. “All we are doing is rationalizing the process.”

Like its competitors in this field, the TSB service will offer the facility to open a working account, transfer between accounts, pay bills and receive information about mortgages and other bank products.

One step ahead technologically, the new Internet banking services provided by Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Bank (AIB) are proving a huge success. Bank customers can do everything they normally do by phone through computer, including transferring money and paying bills.

“We are overwhelmed by the response – over 6, 500 customers are now using on-line banking, ” said Bank of Ireland’s Creeda Mahon. Although there are no on-line product sales as yet, information on mortgages, insurance schemes and savings accounts can be got from the bank’s web site.

Brian Dinihue of AIB confirmed that its Internet service had received much interest since its launch. “So far the consensus is that it works very well but we are open to suggestions on how we can improve it, ” said Donohue. “We are not selling product yet but plan to ask our Internet customers what they would like to see next and will act accordingly.”

Ø 3) Say if the statements are true, false or there is no evidence in the text:

a) Tyson Service Bank (TSB) will launch a 24-hour banking service,

b) some banks in Europe, such as Allied Irish Bank,

c) the Bank of England and the Bank of Russia started the home banking service some years ago, which proved a great success,

d) TSB will offer a number of facilities, such as opening a working account,

e) transferring between accounts, paying bills, getting information about mortgages,

f) The Banks are open to suggestions on how they can improve.