Trust and security in e-banking adoption in Romania

Abstract

Romania, like other nations, is moving forward in developing its electronic services to meet the challenges of this century. One of the electronic services which is gaining more popularity and attention is e-banking. The consideration given to the e-banking by the current traditional banking customers may be due to the changes in the banking consumers’ lifestyle, and this lifestyle has become compatible to the new way of conducting banking services online. However, literature related to e-banking shows that trust and security are among the central factors that influence banking customers’ acceptance of the service. The purpose of this paper is to review measures taken by the government of Romania and major banks in the country in tackling the issue of trust and security on e-banking. In particular, the study focuses on reviewing legal provisions instituting by related ministry on e-banking practices and strategies taken by banks to address the security concerns of the service. Based on the review, it was found that Romania has legal frameworks in place and banks have also adopted measures to address the issue. However, whether or not these measures are effective in mitigating banking consumers’ security concerns is yet uncharted and need to be investigated.