Online banking is booming
June 11, 2007 by admin
Filed under News, News-Banking
Ten years ago the Nationwide Building Society started the huge phenomenon that has become online banking.
And as we reach a decade of banking via the Internet it seems that this method of dealing with finances and applying for banking services has become more popular than ever. There have been some concerns over the ease of banking fraud via the Internet, but with increasingly stringent safety measures in place and customers becoming savvier than ever when it comes to security, online banking continues to thrive.
One of the UK’s leading banks, HSBC, as reported an increase of fifty five percent in terms of its online business. According to recent figures around eighteen million people in the UK now use the Internet to deal with their finances and manage their bank accounts, and HSBC alone has received nearly two billion visits.
At a recent Annual General Meeting the chief executive of HSBC stated: “More and more of our personal and commercial customers are seeing the benefits of buying online. Our websites handled 1.8 billion visits last year and online sales increased by 55 per cent.”
He also stated that the bank was starting to move more towards interaction with customers through the Internet rather than through the branch.
A number of banks that are trying to encourage customers to deal with them online have offered various incentives and rewards such as increased interest rates on savings and bonuses – this is because it is easier, faster, and more time effective for banks to deal with customers in this way rather than through a branch.
When banking online customers can make bill payments, transfer cash, check balances, apply for services such as credit cards and loans, set up and cancel direct debits and standing order, and more.
Tom Smith
11th June 2007
