Towards the Use of Cryptographic Techniques for National Security: Models, Methods and Applications

Abstract

The financial services industry is no exception in the search for efficiency and productivity improvements, competitive advantage through information and communications technologies (ICTs). Notable are commercial banks that have opted for various ICT initiatives towards reducing back office processing costs, improving service delivery and business management practices through data analysis (Ferguson, 2000). ICTs in African banks date back to the data processing era where mainframes were used for transaction processing operations; however, the explosion of computer systems synonymous with the personal computer (PC) and PC-based servers led to the diffusion of IT systems. Where mainframes facilitated centralised processing, the distribution of PC-based servers in bank branches enabled branch automation. Further advancements in banking automation were facilitated by enhanced communications networks that interconnected bank branches for centralised processing and multi-branch banking. The evolution of the data telecommunications through services such as the Internet and global systems for mobile (GSM) have further extended the reach of banking to consumer self-service. This chapter, ICT in banking: application, impacts, and challenges provides an overview of the role ICT plays in the delivery of banking services alongside common impacts and challenges in Africa. Following this introduction, a foundational overview of banking activities, ICT, and its role in banking is presented prior to the discussions on application of ICT components in the execution of banking services in the third section. In addition to its application in banking services, the third section also presents relevant architectural, processing, and infrastructural considerations applicable in banking. Section four and five illustrate ICTs impact and challenges respectively drawing on implementation examples from the Continent. The concluding section summarises the chapter and future developments.