Today, many people are accessing their bank account through the Internet.

 With full fledged banking services available online, 24/7, from the comfort of your own home, office, or even smart mobile device, there will be no turning back, and more and more users will start accessing their bank account and handling their financial transactions, through the Internet. Many banks even offer discounted fees for online electronic transactions. Not having to pay for a bank clerk to deal with you is saving the bank costs, and usually they are willing to pass on a minute bit of their extra profits, to you, their customer.

 But the real promise of online Internet banking is yet to have been realized.

 Banking is one of the business fields with the least competition. Just working out the banks fees, commissions and other ways they dip their hand into your pocket would require an MBA (would that do?). With so little clarity, most customers make uninformed choices about their banking institutions, without even trying to compare the cost they will be incurring.

 Also, the number of different banks out there offering their services is quite limited compared to the huge profits they are making. With tough regulatory requirements and high start-up costs for opening a bank, the competition in this field has always been insufficient to really benefit the consumers.

 Like in so many other fields, in online banking, the Internet promises to start a revolution of sorts. Access to financial information is becoming easier, and online services are great at replacing the need to run from location to location, gathering information and comparing it to find the best deals. So why not for banking as well?

Once the information is more readily available, bank customers will be able to shop around for better deals – lower bank fees and commissions, better forex trading spreads, higher interest for savings accounts, lower interest charged for overdrawn accounts, etc.

 Also switching banks is sure to become easier and easier, with banking websites already helping users open new accounts and transfer their funds, investments and even debt from bank to bank.

 The need is there for more advanced information and services with regard to the choice of the best bank for each customer.

 Once users have an easier time comparing bank rates and commissions and calculating which bank would offer them the best service for the lowest rates, we can expect a big shift in the way banks operate vis-à-vis their customers, reminiscent of the changes that occurred in other financial fields, as well as in communications, news and media, shopping, and several other business fields in which the internet was a serious disrupting force, creating havoc in older business models, but also giving immense benefits to consumers.

 We are all waiting for these benefits to be materialized in the field of banking. After so many years of being under their thumb, it will feel great to be able to 'click away' to greener fields.