Which Bank? The Online Bank
Which Bank? The Online Bank
May 28, 2007: The Commonwealth Bank of Australia says baby boomers have hiked up their online banking usage since 2006, leading to 52 percent of the population now banking online and almost nine out ten users believing the systems they’re using are safe.
Leaving iPods and MP3 players in their wake, the Bank also reports that 58 percent of Australians rate Internet banking as one of the consumer technology advances having the biggest improvements on their lives in the last ten years. Consumers rate online banking as second only to the mobile phone in ‘improving their lives.’
The bank has released its findings based on the results of their annual ‘E-Money’ survey, conducted in April 2007. 1,100 telephone interviews were undertaken by Galaxy Research on behalf of the Commonwealth Bank, with respondents asked about their electronic banking habits and attitudes.
It’s the second annual survey of its kind and one which provides some interesting updates on the online behavioural changes since 2006. Most notably, the sharp uptake of online banking by over 50’s with 26 percent now accessing their funds online.
Acting Head of the Commonwealth Bank’s Retail Group, Ross McEwan says the results indicate more than 1.3 million customers joined the banking revolution in the last year alone. “For Gen X and Y, online banking is a part of everyday life, but now the baby Boomers are catching up and taking up online banking at a faster rate than ever before.
While the good majority of users believe their Internet banking is safe, 98 percent of respondents reported to be using some form of online security measure. 93 percent said they log out correctly at the end of their sessions, 69 percent were selective about using online banking on shared systems and 55 percent regularly update and protect their passwords.
According to McEwan, these security measures indicate users are taking greater responsibility for online security measures. “As well as signing up for additional security measures like ‘two factor authentication’ using Tokens or SMS, users are taking additional steps to safeguard all their online activity and generally becoming more security-savvy,” he said.
However when it comes to electronic banking, most Australians are still not convinced it’s the best banking method. 39 percent of Australians prefer online banking to any other method, but 27 percent still prefer banking at a branch and another 12 percent are still happy using the phone.
The Commonwealth Bank says their NetBank service is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year and with over 2.3 million registered users, its Australia’s most popular online bank.