beyond pt 0 23/1

NAB, as a multinational, is already experiencing some of this, even internally.
Their New Zealand website is operated in Australia.
Interview: Tim Batten, National Australia Bank,
IRG member, 12 July 1999
The transfer of value overseas can occur as the processing of transactions can be
done anywhere.
Interview: Jason Anderson, Australian Stock Exchange,
IRG member, 12 July 1999
The inflow of value from overseas is not significant and would be
predominantly from the acquisition of international banking operations
by the Australian banks and any associated movement of functions to
Australia. For example The Bank of New Zealand owned by NAB
operates its Internet site and undertakes all its processing in Australia
including monitoring and supporting its ATM network. E-commerce is a
major enabler of this, specifically EDI, the Internet and other dedicated
networking systems.
Value can be transferred from overseas in the form of staff. The ASX has
one-third of its employees in IT and software roles and is looking to source staff
from overseas.
Interview: Jason Anderson, Australian Stock Exchange,
IRG member, 12 July 1999
Key points
The opportunities opened up by e-commerce is a factor driving change in the
banking and financial services sector. Use of e-commerce is shifting demand and
supply in the sector to lower cost more convenient service delivery channels. In
meeting the broad range of financial service needs that customers have within a
single entity, the distinction between banks and other traditional financial service
roles is becoming blurred. The potential of online financial services has reduced
many barriers to entry and is increasing competitive pressures. It is likely that cost
savings that will result from this process will be passed on to consumers.
When looking at quantitative analysis of the sector it seems reasonable to factor in a
wide range of direct changes:
– direct labour savings extending the staff reductions the sector is
already achieving;
– banking is also expected to be able to disintermediate other input costs,
particularly those that relate to the operation of branch networks. To reflect this
it can be assumed that a small reduction in inputs of construction and paper
products is achieved (equal over time to about three and five per cent of
those inputs);
– reflecting the increased convenience of online banking and financial services,
time savings should be included as an efficiency gain for other industries that
use the services of the sector as well as households;
– the sector has already boosted expenditure to purchase e-commerce inputs and
these are already factored in to the base case forecasts. Nevertheless, it is
prudent to make an allowance for additional investment reflecting assumptions
about greater use of e-commerce and online financial services; and
– for the moment it is assumed that this sector will not face greater international
competition or experience a significant boost in exports from e-commerce.
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