Internet banking in Hong Kong has taken off after early customer fears over security, a survey has found.
The use of Internet banking among those who are online the most - for three or more hours a week - has grown by 67 per cent to 618,000, up from 248,000 from the end of 2000. The number of people in Hong Kong who use the Internet is 2.08 million. Almost one-third of the most regular Internet users also bank online once a week or more, making Hong Kong a more advanced Internet banking region than Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan.
Richard Sandlant - senior analyst for ACNielsen, which carried out the survey of 8,400 people between July and October last year - said the growth was boosted by the convenience of online banking. He predicted that usage would grow by 70 to 90 per cent in the next two years.
'Most people use it for paying bills, accessing their transaction account or transferring funds. It's so much easier to open an account on the Internet than actually going to a bank.
'Regular users are comfortable with shopping online and it is just practical common sense for them to also bank online, especially once they have got over the hurdle of being worried about security,' he said.
Mr Sandlant said online banking was now more popular than online shopping, with 100,000 more bank customers in the SAR than shoppers. Even among the 582,000 regular Internet users not banking online, 65 per cent say they are willing to try it.
