Canadians love to bank online, according to a new study by the Toronto-based NFO CFgroup.
The study found that nearly one in four Canadian adults have signed up for online banking, up from one in five the same time last year.
How Canadians Bank found that 61 per cent of online banking customers click on their bank account once a week, while 82 per cent usually bank online at least once a month (up from 77 per cent in 2000).
“Usage of Internet and telephone banking, as well as bank machines is up this year, while visits to bank branches have declined,” said Rhonda Grunier, vice-president of NFO CFgroup.
More Canadians are also using debit cards, while fewer are writing cheques. The majority of Canadians continue to deal personally with their financial institution at the branch level: 58 per cent report visiting a branch in the past month to conduct a transaction with branch staff, down from 61 per cent in each of the past two years.
Banking machines are the most popular way to do a routine transaction, with 79 per cent of Canadian adults having used the automated teller in the past month, up from 76 per cent a year ago.
