As noted in the Executive Summary of these guidelines, "Continuing technological innovation and competition among existing banking organisations and new entrants have allowed for a much wider array of banking products and services to become accessible and delivered to retail and wholesale customers through an electronic distribution channel collectively referred to as e-banking. However, the rapid development of e-banking capabilities carries risks as well as benefits.

"The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision expects such risks to be recognised, addressed and managed by banking institutions in a prudent manner...

"[T]he Committee has identified fourteen Risk Management Principles for Electronic Banking to help banking institutions expand their existing risk oversight policies and processes to cover their e-banking activities..."

By issuing principles (rather than requirements) here, the Basel Committee preserves flexibility for domestic banking supervisors. However, the fact that these principles are addressed to banking institutions rather than government regulators suggests centralization at the international level. Moreover, the principles falling under the category of security controls point to a need for international cooperation in applying common security standards.