29 December 2006
The number of adult customers banking online has outstripped the number of telephone banking customers for the first time, a survey from Apacs has shown.
The study found that over a third of the adult population now bank online – a total of 16.9 million adults.
Since 2002, the number of customers using online banking has almost doubled from 7.5 million to 16.9 million.
But over 50% of new users, those who have signed up within the last six months, are under 35 years old, while 29% of the same group are aged 16-24.
Meanwhile, over 55s continue to prefer telephone banking overall.
Their preference fails to buck the overall trend in falling telephone banking use, however. The number of people using telephone banking fell for the first time between 2005 and 2006, from 16 million in 2005 to 15.4 million.
Almost half of UK internet users (48%) now bank online.
Director of communications at Apacs, Sandra Quinn, stressed that customers needed to reduce the risk of online banking fraud by using a firewall and regularly updating antivirus software.
© 2008 Adfero Ltd
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