In the past few years there has been an enormous development in the Internet based economy. Companies and investors can buy and sell products, services as well as corporate stocks. Therefore, electronic banking quickly gained ground as the most important means of conducting efficient cashflow, online auctions and many more.

With online business banking you have a lot of options when it comes about making and receiving payments. The cost, speed and security of transferring funds online are incomparable to those of traditional banking. The most important services where online banking beats traditional banking are the following:

• you can check your balance and transfers online, without visiting or calling your branch
  
  
• online payment is cheaper that paying with traditional cheques, also in the case of urgent payments. You can conduct domestic or cross border payments.
  
  
• you can export files and documents to the company’s accounting packages
  
  
• you can pay the salaries of your employees via online bank transfer, which is again a cheap, safe solution
  
  
• and last but not least, you can collect debtors’ payment on the same basis.

Since not all the banks are alike, you have to shop around for the best offers and services. Online banking has a lot of advantages, and great promotions: in some cases you can get great discounts and 30%-50% off electronic funds transfer packages and accounting softwares. Many times, online banking services offer you a trial period, that is subscription free and further benefits, like the possibility of online advertising 100% free of charge.

• Automated creditor payments: is a service which becomes a must if you have to make domestic and/or cross border payments very often. It helps you to make high volume and mixed currency payments to suppliers, either domestically or internationally.
  
  
• Online funds transfer: this is a service which allows you to make high volume domestic payments either to suppliers and/or to employees (salaries) regularly. The service can also be used to collect direct payments from debtors.
  
  
• Account reconciliation: is designed to large corporations that need regular and comprehensible access to their transactions’ history. It provides a detailed history and description of transactions at regular periods of time, to all those customers who wish to be up to date regarding the situation of their accounts (both credits and debits). A mothly statement is provided via email which contains the summary of your balance, and full account activity.
  
  
• Remote deposit capture: this service helps you to build a database of all your cheques. All you need to do is to scan the cheques and deposit them electronically in your business online account. Thus, you can access your funds more quickly and you can send the necessary information immediately when required.
  
  
• Deposits services: allows you a fast way to access and process your bank deposits. The management of your funds’ collection will be easy and more comprehensive through this service.
  
  
• Wire transfer: in order to run your business efficiently, sometimes you need immediate and easy access to your funds, as well as a fast liquidity of your money. This service provides the so called same-day transfer, which means that the payment is delivered in the same day the transaction or business is executed. This is especially helpful in case of tac payments, investments and foreign currency transfer to international partners.
  
  
• Electronic bill payment: helps you pay your customers and send invoices electronically.
  
  
• Sweep accounts: after a busy day of conducting business, you might want to put your money in excess to bring more money to you. Therefore, a sweep account seems to be the best solution, because it deposits your money in plus, and also provides interest rates.

Most online banking services provide advanced level security to their customers. To log in, every customer must use a personal username and password, but for certain transactions, like authorizing an electronic payment, a digital certificate is needed.