Online banking on the rise, but fears remain

Nearly a third of consumers now use internet banking

Nearly a third of UK adults use online banking services, but fears over security persist, according to new research by Gartner released today.

The analyst firm polled nearly 4,000 consumers in the US and UK, and found that 30 per cent in the UK had used online banking in the previous month, with just over half of 'higher income' consumers saying they use the service.

However, 38 per cent of those still resisting the move to online banking cited security as a major factor, and 58 per cent indicated that they simply prefer to use other channels.

Gartner analyst Alistair Newton argued that online banking, driven by improvements in broadband availability and quality, has now passed a tipping point of user adoption to the stage where it is now almost a commodity.

"From a bank's point of view it really means that, once you get mainstream adoption, you've got to think about the web more broadly - as more than just another delivery channel," he said.

"They have to think of the web as a channel which is integrated with the rest of their channels - branch, phone and mobile - and to recognise that the two minutes a day their customers use their site are not the only times they use the internet."