Canada cashes in on web banking

More than two-thirds of Canadian internet users banked online in April

Canada is one of the world's most developed markets for online banking, according to new research.

The country ranked number one in the adoption of online banking among the 37 global markets researched by analyst house comScore.

Some 67 per cent of Canadian internet users banked online in April, according to the research.

Other English-speaking countries had significantly lower penetration, including the UK (49.5 per cent), US (44.4 per cent) and Australia (41.7 per cent).

"Canadians are typically very savvy internet users, a fact that is underscored by their heavy use of online banking," said Brent Bernie, president of comScore Media Metrix Canada.

"But because the Canadian online banking sector is so developed and competition already so fierce, banks need to closely examine how they are meeting the needs of their consumers online if they are to achieve growth and retention."

Canadians also led the world in online banking frequency with an average of eight usage days and 10.5 online banking visits per visitor in April.

They also spent an average of 46 minutes on banking sites in April, viewing approximately 121 pages per visitor.

RBC Financial group led the category with 4.6 million visitors, followed by TD Bank Financial Group (4.5 million) and Bank of Montreal (three million).

Among those banks in the top 10, Bank of Montreal experienced the greatest increase in visitation during the past year, growing 22 per cent.