The appetite for online banking in this country appears to be growing, with AIB announcing today that there were over five million customer log-ins to its service during the traditionally quiet month of July.
This represents growth of over 25pc from 2007, with an average of 170,000 customer log-ins every day.
Online payments climbed 20pc year-on-year, reaching 1.5 million internet payments last month. The strong growth in online payments appears to mirror a drop-off in the level of personal cheques being written, according to the bank.
Personal customers in particular are embracing the online capability with a 20pc increase in the mobile top-up service, a 28pc increase in domestic transfers to friends and family and a 40pc rise in international payments.
The desire to buy financial products online is also evident with AIB’s online sales already reaching the total for all of 2007. This has been spurred on by the recent introduction of some products available exclusively online, such as the ‘CLICK’ Visa Credit Card and the ‘Online Notice Deposit 7 Account’.
In addition, AIB customers have availed of the eStatement initiative, opting out of paper to receive their statements online. Over one million eStatements will be delivered in 2008, which is good news for the environment.
“The internet has become a critical way for our customers to bank with us and the consistent levels of growth across all aspects of internet usage and sales are clearly demonstrating a migration to an electronic economy,” said Sean Jevens, head of eChannel development.
By Sorcha Corcoran
