The first part of the article seeks to highlight the importance that increasingly electronic trading experience in the field of financial services, and as a result of that the new expressions that arise in providing financial transactions through a conceptual distinction of services and financial channels. In this context, new challenges for the industry players requiring them continuing specialization and innovation in product design, in order to satisfy the current demands ofconsumers who have configured one profile increasingly informed, sophisticated technology in making their consumption decisions.In the second part of the article, I will describe the local regulation which applies to electronic contracting in comparison with the regulation that applies to the traditional contracting which use printed information and oral presentations. This section identifies also the main regulatory implications for the consumer and the industry, with reference of compared experiences that may be interesting to comment on the formulation of considerations if applicable. / En la primera parte del artículo se propone destacar la importancia que crecientemente experimenta la contratación electrónica en el ámbito de los servicios financieros, y como consecuencia de ello, las nuevas expresiones que surgen en la prestación de operaciones financieras pasando por una distinciónconceptual de servicios y canales financieros. En este contexto, se configuran nuevos retos para los actores de la industria de este tipo de servicios que les exige continua especialización e innovación en el diseño de productos, de modo que éstos estén en grado de satisfacer las exigencias actuales de consumidores que cuentan con un perfil cada vez más informado, sofisticado y tecnológico en la adopción de sus decisiones de consumo.En la segunda parte del artículo se describirá el tratamiento regulatorio local aplicable a la contratación electrónica de servicios financieros, destacando aquellos aspectos regulatorios que la distinguen respecto de la contratación tradicional, esto es, la contratación presencial por medios escritos. En esta sección se identificará a su vez las principales implicancias regulatoriasde cara al consumidor y a la industria, tomando como referencia experiencias regulatorias a nivel comparado que puedan resultar interesantes de comentar en la formulación de consideraciones a que hubiera lugar.

Financial services institutions invest in self–service technologies for various reasons. These include the demands to rationalise costs and to meet the channel preferences of a „technology- savvy‟ client base. Some advantages of self–service technologies (“SSTs”) include the optimisation of staff activities and faster and improved customer services. Retail banks experience various migration-related costs when migrating customers to an SST environment; in terms of both branch infrastructure and the development of employee skills. Some customers continue to favour face-to-face service interactions, which necessitates an identification and evaluation of the necessary skills required by employees to facilitate this migration process. This study aims to both identify and classify the requisite skills needed by financial services professionals to enable them to migrate customers from physical to electronic service channels; including ATMs. With the appropriate training and competencies, employees can guide customers more effectively through the migration process in a non-judgemental way. This would, in turn, address the lack of self-service technology understanding among customers in the longer term. The lack of support from skilled service employees has, in many instances, led to customers paying higher transactional fees and experiencing inconvenience at physical channels, thereby resulting in overall lower self-service usage. / Business Management / DBL

Financial services institutions invest in self–service technologies for various reasons. These include the demands to rationalise costs and to meet the channel preferences of a „technology- savvy‟ client base. Some advantages of self–service technologies (“SSTs”) include the optimisation of staff activities and faster and improved customer services. Retail banks experience various migration-related costs when migrating customers to an SST environment; in terms of both branch infrastructure and the development of employee skills. Some customers continue to favour face-to-face service interactions, which necessitates an identification and evaluation of the necessary skills required by employees to facilitate this migration process. This study aims to both identify and classify the requisite skills needed by financial services professionals to enable them to migrate customers from physical to electronic service channels; including ATMs. With the appropriate training and competencies, employees can guide customers more effectively through the migration process in a non-judgemental way. This would, in turn, address the lack of self-service technology understanding among customers in the longer term. The lack of support from skilled service employees has, in many instances, led to customers paying higher transactional fees and experiencing inconvenience at physical channels, thereby resulting in overall lower self-service usage. / Business Management / DBL