Online banking proves popular

Online banking is on the increase, with the number of surfers flocking to banking websites rising by 65 per cent in the last year, a new report has found.


According to internet measurement company Hitwise, banking websites now account for 1.42 per cent of all internet traffic, almost double the 0.86 per cent figure in May 2002.


But it's not looking rosy for all online banks. Dutch financial company ING, which launched its internet banking service last month, was only the 37th most visited banking site in the UK last week, accounting for just 0.46 per cent of traffic to the online banking sector.


According to Hitwise's report, Egg remains the online banking leaders with 5.91 per cent of the market and users averaging 5.23 minutes a visit.


The most online bankers are in the South East of the UK (16 per cent), closely followed by London (14 per cent) and the east of England (12 per cent). Females make up 46 per cent of visitors, with Monday the most popular day for logging on to banking websites.