Tenth anniversary of online banking

Last Modified: 27 May 2007
Source: PA News

Online banking in the UK is celebrating its 10th anniversary, with more than a third of people now regularly logging on to handle their finances.

May 27 1997 saw the founding of the service, with Nationwide Building Society beating the banks and launching the country's first online banking service.

A decade on from its inception, more than 18 million people in the UK now get balance updates or make payments over the internet.

The advent of broadband and the relative ease of banking online as opposed to having to queue in a high street branch has seen rapid growth in the sector. Since the turn of the century, online banking numbers have increase five fold.

Today, half of all internet users in the UK manage their finances online, according to statistics from the UK payments association APACS. By 2016 it is expected that more than two-third of adults will be using telephone and internet banking.

Figures from Nationwide show that 66% of online bankers log on at least once a week, with 9% of men and 6% of women stating that they check their internet account every day.

Sandra Quinn, director of communications at APACS, said: "Online banking has totally changed the way we manage our accounts, enabling us to keep a much closer eye on our finances outside of traditional banking hours.

"The ease and convenience of online banking has meant it has become second nature to many of us."

Of those that have signed up to the new way of sorting out their finances, 53% said they bank online because they believe it to be convenient. Half said internet banking is easy to use, with a quarter citing speed as the main reason they have switched from branch to internet.

But with the rise in numbers going online to manage their finances, there has inevitably been an increase in the number of fraudsters targeting internet bankers. In 2006, online banking fraud cost the industry £33.5 million in losses, compared with £23.2 million in the year before.

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