By Dan Ilett, 4 October 2005 16:20
NEWS The number of people who use online banking is set to double by 2010, a survey has found.
More than a third of people in the UK (38 per cent) will be banking online in five years' time, according to a survey of 2,115 people by the Future Foundation.
The study found only three per cent of respondents were using internet banking in 1999 - a figure that has grown to 18 per cent this year.
John Goddard, managing director of Cahoot, who commissioned the survey, said: "The correlation between internet usage and online banking is strong because the longer a person has used the internet, the more likely they are to use it to manage their day-to-day banking. The fundamental questions about internet access will have changed in five years' time, and by then it will be less a question of 'do they or don't they bank online?' but more a question of 'what do they do with it?'."
The report found almost two-thirds (60 per cent) of people aged between 55 and 64 use the internet, and half (50 per cent) of all internet users aged over 50 bank online.
The average internet user was found to be a middle-aged, suburban mother or father aged between 35 and 44 years-old.
Goddard added: "For some people, online services will never replace face-to-face contact but many others like the convenience of the internet, with the ability to open accounts, move money and conduct transactions at any time from their work or home PC."
Two per cent of internet users have stopped online banking through fear of identity theft, analysts found earlier this year.
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