5 January 2007
Research from the UK payments association Apacs has revealed that online banking has outstripped telephone banking for the first time, confirming analysts' beliefs that online banking is becoming increasingly popular across the nation.
It appears that the threat of internet fraud is not enough to put off the public, with figures showing that over a third of the adult population now bank online.
As expected, younger customers make up the largest demographic of new internet banking users, with 29% of them being 16-24-years-old and over 50% being under 35.
Sandra Quinn, director of communications at Apacs, suggested that the increase in the number of bills consumers now paid helped encourage users to take a more active stance and more frequent look at their finances.
"The older we get the more complex our finances tend become, as they include a range of regular payments: from paying our mortgage to our mobile phone bill," she said.
"Our research shows that increasingly, if you are under 35, you are more than likely to be turning to the internet rather than the phone to manage your finances."
Figures also showed that 58% of internet banking users who access their main current account online also access other accounts through this channel, particularly in the case of online credit card holders, of whom 98% access multiple accounts this way.