Barclays has confirmed its position as the UK’s largest online bank by quadrupling its online customer base in less than 18 months.
Pehnomenal demand for online banking has seen Barclays increase its customer base from 500,000 at the start of 2000 to two million today.
The popularity of online banking services is also borne out in a recent survey by NOP Solutions for Barclays. The research reveals that eight out of 10 people believe the whole nation will be able to bank online by 2006.
Ian Richardson, Barclays e-director, says: "We are the first bank in the UK to reach two million online banking customers...We expect to meet the target this year of attracting 2.5 million customers to the service, earlier than expected."
Since the service was launched in 1998, Barclays has experienced significant growth in the type of online transactions and changes in the profile of its online banking customer base. These include:
* One–third of all new current account customers to Barclays sign up for online banking;
* Online banking customers are half as likely as customers who do not bank online to call Barclays with account queries and increasingly prefer to undertake these online;
* More and more payments are being made online. In March 2001, nearly six out 10 Barclays customers using online banking paid bills and transferred money over the Internet;
* Today, 40 per cent of Barclays online banking customers are women, compared to one in 10 in 1998. Ten per cent of Barclays online banking customers are aged 55 or over.
Barclays says that it will continue to improve its online banking service so that it reflects the changing needs of customers.