How Popular Is Online Banking?

As we embrace the online medium and trust it to carry out a whole lot more of our daily functions, a new world of choices opens up. We are no longer restricted to shopping locally. We can now look around to see what?s available elsewhere. The internet has levelled the playing field for competition with laser-sharp accuracy, and one of the industry sectors to benefit most is banking.

Competition for financial products is hot. Combine that with user-friendly banking websites and associated internet services and it?s obvious that we now have more choice than ever. Smaller institutions, in particular, have been able to cast off the geographical shackles and compete on an equal footing with the big boys.

Banks – customer-owned, as well as the majors – have made the online process easier for customers by continually improving their websites and internet banking services, ironing out glitches and adding handy features to make sure the experience is what we expect – fast, accurate and convenient every time.

What?s our preference for banking online?

Phone banking is increasing in popularity but 59% of us still do at least some online banking on our desktop computer, with those using a laptop just behind at 57%, according to a Canstar Blue survey on banking satisfaction. Of the remaining devices used for online banking, 39% of us use our mobiles and only 20% use a tablet.

Canstar Blue also tells us that overall a huge number of those surveyed – 90% – bank online.

Customer-owned Banking Institution of the Year award winner, CUA, says that customer choice is important.

“It?s important to CUA that we give our customers choice over the channel they use to buy or browse our products and services, and how they transact with us as their banking provider. These channels include our 59 branches, CUA Direct call centres and digital channels, and also mortgage brokers,” said CUA General Manager, Products and Marketing, Jason Murray.

“Branches continue to be important to CUA?s customers. We?re also investing in upgrades to our digital platforms, like mobile banking, to provide an even better multi-channel customer experience.

“The use of mobile banking by CUA customers is increasing significantly. The number of mobile banking logins each month has increased by 92 per cent in less than two years. CUA mobile banking log-ins now average more than 1.3 million log-ins per month – a similar number of log-ins to CUA web banking.”

What do we do online?

Sometimes it?s not all about moving money. One of the most frequent activities undertaken using a computer or mobile phone is simply checking account balances and researching products and services to buy.

Internet banking offers a wealth of banking options. The vast majority of banking products can be applied for online. Other useful functions include:

• Transferring money between accounts
• Paying bills
• Accessing your transaction history
• Finding your nearest ATM
• Using tools such as home loan and savings calculators
• Setting up an online budget and frequent payments

And best of all, it can be done any day of the week and at any time to suit your schedule. How convenient is that?