Resumen
The exponential growth of the Internet during the past decade has essentially altered the landscape of the financial services industry with the initiation of continuously available banking services and the adoption of e-transactions. This year, the number of households in the US that will use online banking is expected to exceed approximately 24 million (50 million worldwide) - nearly double the number of households at the end of 2000. Yet the number of virtual banks and Web-based start-ups has shrunk more than 97%. By the late 1990s, hundreds of virtual banks had been initiated. However, at the end of 2003 only a handful of virtual banks had survived. Increasingly, these institutions envision a click-and-brick strategy for survival and strategic positioning. In contrast, more than 3,000 brick-and-mortar banks in the US have incorporated interactive banking channels.