Internet banking on rise in Canada: NFO CFgroup
New research by the NFO CFgroup indicates that 24% of the adult population of Canada has signed up for online banking, an increase of 4% from the one-fifth of Canadians enrolled last year. The study, How Canadians Bank, also shows that 61% of users access their account online at least once a week. The vast majority, 82%, say they usually bank online at least once a month, up from 77% in 2000. A slim majority of Canadians still visit their branches in person, however. The study indicates 58% report visiting a branch to conduct a transaction with a teller or other staff. That’s down slightly from 61% in each of the two previous years. Of Canadians not signed up for Internet banking, 14% plan to do so in the next six months. Of non-users in the 18-24 age bracket, 22% plan to enroll in the next six months. Not surprisingly, the study finds that 79% of Canadian adults have used a bank machine in the past month. In the study’s other findings: registration for online trading has increased over the past year among Canadians with an account at a discount broker, from 47% to 63%. Those users aren’t trading as frequently, however. Only 25% of online traders do so on a weekly basis, their ranks thinned from the 53% who did so last year. The telephone survey of 2,034 Canadian adults was conducted between Oct. 3-16.

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