The survey which sampled over 6,000 adults in the UK discovered that 78% of adults could potentially use online banking in the UK.
Seven out of 10 people who could use online banking on their main account already do so, while a further 10% (about 4 million people) are, or maybe, interested in doing so.
The ability to check balances or make payments at any time was seen as the main benefit of internet banking – with almost three quarters of interested non-users agreeing that this was a useful feature.
Once people start to use online banking they tend to stick with it; ‘lapsed users’ (people who have tried internet banking in the past but who do not use it any more) only account for two per cent of the people surveyed.
The most common barrier to using online banking is concerns about security - only 15% of interested non-users said they were ‘very confident’ that online banking is safe and secure, with almost one in four (24%) concerned about remembering PINs or passwords.
Lack of confidence and lack of familiarity were the next most common reasons for not having yet tried online banking.
Another important finding was that 20% of people (approximately 8 million) who have a bank account and internet access expressed no interest in online banking on their main account.
This was particularly pronounced amongst older groups – only one in six over 65s who were not using internet banking said they would be interested in doing so.
The most common reasons for lack of interest are a preference for doing banking face-to-face (30%), finding their current banking method convenient (27%) security concerns (26%) and not needing to do banking very often (11%).
Maurice Cleaves, interim chief executive of the Payments Council, said: “Checking a balance or sending a quick, secure payment online is something that many of us take for granted and yet millions are potentially missing out because they could do with a bit of extra help or reassurance to get them started.”
“If you haven’t tried internet banking but think you would like to, contact your bank or building society for more information on how to get started.”
