New channels, such as on-line banking, are not generally leading to increases in the customer base at banks that offer them; instead, customers (particularly the most sophisticated who have ready access to technology) have begun to expect these services and may readily switch providers if their expectations are not met.
Thus, banks have recognized that they need to offer the conveniences of newer technologies merely to retain their existing customers. Federal Reserve research has found an interesting caveat to the above statement: Banks that either are early adopters of new technologies or are particularly effective at using such technologies do have temporarily higher revenues but do not have cost savings.