Press release

Home > About us > News > Press releases > Archive > Press release

Online Banking Gaining Worldwide Momentum

Netherlands, Germany and Denmark rank top three in global survey results

Seattle, October 19th, 2005 - GMI Poll, a survey of 17,500 consumers in 18 countries by global market research solutions company GMI (Global Market Insite, Inc.), recently found that the majority of Europeans bank online at least half the time, with the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark leading the way. The U.S. and Japan ranked tenth and eleventh, respectively, with 38 percent of Americans and 30 percent of Japanese banking online. Russia weighed in at last place, with only five percent of the country banking via the Internet.

With the emergence of online financial services such as ING Direct and EmigrantDirect, which offer consumers a competitive four percent yield on savings accounts, compared with 0.5 or 0.6 percent with traditional institutions, Internet banking will only continue to gain in popularity. However, online security fears may be one of the reasons why online banking has not taken off in the U.S. to the extent that it has in Europe. Not only have U.S. consumers experienced a sharp rise in phishing, keystroke logging and identify theft, but nearly two million Americans had their checking accounts raided by criminals in 2004, according to a recent Gartner study.

Online banking security fears are noticeably lower in countries which ranked high in online banking use, such as Germany and the Netherlands, where banks have fortified security measures by introducing two-factor authentication policies; in fact, some banks now require a third identification number from users.

Slower adoption can also be attributed to the “personal” factor, as countries that banked online the least, including Mexico, Spain, Italy and France, considered personal contact with a banking advisor to be an important element of the banking experience: 74 percent of French and Mexican respondents highly valued the personal touch.

Not surprisingly, the study showed that worldwide, the youth market – 18-to 29-year-olds – embraced banking online more than any other age demographic. Online usage among youth corroborated overall survey results, with 85 percent of the Netherlands’ younger population blazing the online banking trail. Similarly, younger people in Denmark, Germany, Canada, Poland and Australia (76, 73, 64, 62, and 58 percent, respectively) conduct the majority of their banking online.

Worldwide, consumers validated that online banking is here to stay, even if issues such as security breaches are preventing them from taking the leap online right now. For example, 79 percent of consumers worldwide, and 81 percent of Americans, agreed that online and telephone banking have improved overall service quality; and even Russia, which came in last in its online banking usage, responded positively with 75 percent.

The reason why most consumers are not adopting online banking at a faster rate, as analyst reports suggest, might be that consumers are not aware of the benefits of online banking besides a convenient way to pay bills, transfer funds, and check balances. In spite of the fact that opening online savings accounts yield more than traditional savings account and the majority of respondents worldwide (57 percent) cited ‘better interest conditions’ as the primary reason for changing banks, there hasn’t been mass movement to Internet banking. This would suggest a critical need for financial services institutions to educate and market the financial benefits of their online products and services to consumers in a more proactive fashion.

As popular as online banking may become in the future, only slightly more than a third of respondents worldwide felt that online banking or other banking service providers, such as supermarkets, will replace traditional banks. However, Australia and the UK were optimistic towards replacing traditional banks, with 55 percent of Australians and 49 percent of UK respondents anticipating a total cyber-banking experience.

About GMI Poll

GMI Poll quickly and accurately gathers international opinions about topical issues and critical global events, with real-time results available in as little as 24 hours. GMI Poll is the only survey that polls global opinions in real time, online, and with statistically accurate results.

About GMI

GMI (Global Market Insite, Inc.) is the only company that provides comprehensive integrated solutions for global market intelligence for both market research firms and corporate market research departments at Global 2000 companies. Solutions include Net-MR®, a suite of software tools to manage and automate research throughout the project lifecycle, desktop analysis tools, 24x7x365 service bureau capabilities, and one of the world’s largest, highly profiled, double opt-in managed panels, spanning across 200 countries. In addition, GMI offers high-value, real-time enterprise feedback solutions for customer, partner and employee programs. Founded in 1999 with world headquartersin Seattle, Wash., GMI has operations on five continents.