Online banking grows in acceptance

Northwestern Financial Review, Jul 1-Jul 14, 2004

Nearly one-third of U.S. households have signed up to use online banking services and of those, 80 percent to 90 percent use those services regularly. These figures came from research conducted by the TowerGroup, a division of MasterCard International. Research also reveals that online banking use grows significantly after a bank drops its online banking fees.

Banks that do not charge fees see the highest enrollment in online banking, said a TowerGroup analyst. Among customers not banking online, 6 percent cited privacy concerns, 26 percent cited security concerns and 22 percent said they found the idea of banking through a computer "uncomfortable."