SUMMARY
Development of rural areas represents a priority for the European Union which haselaborated a series of strategies for sustainable rural development. In this respect, commercialbanks can also be involved in the sustenance and development of rural areas, which cantransform into new and attractive customer markets for banks (Kirschner, 2005). First steptowards conquering these markets is the extension of territorial banking network in rural areaswith great and diverse customer potential. In their portfolios of banking products and services,commercial banks can devise banking services specific for customers from rural areas. Animportant objective for rural areas is the increase of the level of banking culture andcivilisation, which is the next step towards financial prosperity. The existence of a modern ITbanking system provides a high-quality management of complex banking services andproducts in rural areas as well as a quick and efficient customer service (Stanciu , 2004).