The growth in popularity of online banking is reflected in the 2.6 million customers now registered to conduct their banking business online - up 16.1% on 2008.

The increase in usage over the same period is just as pronounced, with a 17.2% increase to 136 million in the number of times online accounts were accessed during 2009; while the number of online payments increased by 12.7% to 34.6 million - equivalent to some 95,000 per day.

"We can see from these figures that online banking continues to grow strongly in Ireland with significant growth being recorded between 2008 and 2009", states IBF's Chief Executive, Pat Farrell. "This is evident also from some international comparisons. Whereas the number of online payments per capita in 2007 was 5.4 in Ireland compared to 5.5 in the UK, by 2008 this had increased to 7.0 while remaining static in the UK. While we are heading in the right direction, the extent to which we lag behind a leading online adopter like Norway is reflected in their 2008 payments per capita figure of 36.1".

"Online banking is facilitating the all-important migration from cheques and other paper-based payment methods to electronic payments," according to Una Dillon, IPSO's Head of Card Services and Communications. "The move to electronic payments is central to ensuring Ireland's competitiveness and efficiency within the wider European market and is a key objective of the Government's National Payments Implementation Programme."