Online banking usage at record high

MORE people are banking online, with internet banking usage hitting a record high of 31pc of all bank customers in the June quarter.

Online banking usage at record high

INTERNET banking usage rose to a new record of 31 per cent of all bank customers in the June quarter, according to data compiled by MISC Australia on behalf of its client banks.

The 1.4 per cent increase, which is equivalent to 90,000 extra users, reversed the 1.3 per cent decline in the March quarter.

The latest result was helped by a general surge in internet banking, with customers expanding their deposit balances and opening new accounts, including superannuation accounts, as a result of the one-off opportunity to pour a maximum of $1 million into super before lower caps were introduced on July 1.

Figures released late last month by the financial services industry regulator, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, showed investors put $22.4 billion of voluntary contributions into super in the June quarter.

This was more than triple the previous highest level, such that voluntary payments were higher than employer contributions for the first time.

MISC Australia said that record usage of internet banking, available now for seven years, showed there was a growing acceptance of virtual banking in the community.

Despite this, all the major banks are reversing the industry-wide policy of branch closures in the 1990s.

The branch networks are now being extended and modernised as the banks try to increase cross-selling between their banking and wealth management operations.

The online banking channel, according to MISC Australia, was used for personal super restructuring, and it fed through to a 6 per cent increase in the number of accounts to a record 25.7 million.

Transfer activity from one account to another also reached an all-time high. It rose 2.2 per cent as customers undertook 1.5 million additional transfers.  An unusually high 74 per cent of the transfers were external.

Again, this was attributed to superannuation activity, with customers transferring funds into their super accounts to qualify for the federal government incentives