The Costa Rican government owns three banks: Banco de Costa Rica, Banco Nacional, and Banco Credito Agricola de Cartago (Bancredito). Out of the three state-owned banks only Banco de Costa Rica currently offers online services which the majority of the country's private banks already provide.

Banco San Jose is one such private bank - its online service has been up and running for 18 months with around 10,000 clients regularly performing online transactions. Companies that use the service are able to operate regional transactions via the Grupo BAC network. Another major banking institution, Bank Bañes, can boast an online customer base of 5,800 since its website went into action a year ago.

In a bid to play catch up to the private banks and the BCR, Banco Nacional and Bancredito have announced their intentions to compete online early next year. Approximately 300 companies currently have access to Banco Nacional via an intranet service but once the bank goes electronic it hopes to increase this figure to at least 3000 by mid-2001. The bank will also offer online services for individuals owning a Servibanca card.