The Bulgarian Banks' competitiveness: the case of Remote banking

The new information technologies adoption and e-commerce emergence change the role of financial intermediaries in new E-conomy. During the last years, the banks have started an expansion to the web – they offer broad range of traditional bank products and services via Internet. The remote banking becomes one of the main channels for bank services distribution. This paper presents results from a research, which aims to describe actual picture of remote banking products and services offered by Bulgarian banks. They are estimated in accordance with the criteria as: web site availability; information for bank products and services available via Internet; online application forms; online banking application; other online/remote services. In spite of the small number of Bulgarian banks, which offer their products and services via Internet, the research shows that Bulgarian banks as a whole are presented in Internet, as well as indicates that banks estimate the potential and competitive advantages of the new medium.