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 | | Wednesday, 5 September, 2001, 15:26 GMT 16:26 UK Britons lead Europe's internet bankers  New research suggests that the UK boasts more visitors to banking sites than other European countries, far outstripping France and Germany. More than a third of the UK's internet population now use the web to visit banking sites, according to a survey from the Internet monitoring company Netvalue. Overall, the number of visitors to e-banks has grown 27% in the past six months to top five million visitors in July, proving that customers are not being deterred by a run of embarrassing technology glitches. The female population has been a major part of the increase, making up more than half of new users of online banking this year. And statistics for women banking online have risen more than 60% since January. Italy trails behind The Scandinavians are also at the forefront of e-bank enthusiasm. More than half of Swedish internet users organise their personal finances online, while Norway and Denmark are not far behind.
Italy is the bottom of the heap, with only 12.5% of internet users managing their cash online. And Germany is the only one of the eight countries where online banking has decreased during the last six months. But while the number of users is increasing, the amount of time spent logged on to a banking site is decreasing. "Users are spending less time online, suggesting they know their way round the sites, and what they want to do there," said Netvalue's Alki Manias. Security fears The number of people wising up to the risks of online fraud and opting for a secure connections has also taken off. Lloyds TSB and Egg were vying for the top spot of leading internet bank in July, drawing in 6.54% and 6.52% of the internet population respectively. Out of these two, Lloyds TSB has far more customers selecting to make a secure connection, with almost two thirds of people choosing to take the secure route. Netvalue's Alki Manias told BBC News Online that a 10% reach was imminently possible by one of the internet banks, propelled forward by advertising and ease of use. But Mr Manias declined to comment on which bank showed the most potential for rapid growth. | | See also:  Top Business stories now:  Links to more Business stories are at the foot of the page. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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