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Cape Town - As consumers switch in increasing numbers to online banking, the voice of the bank brand is shifting from the High Street to the internet.
The survey found that 32% of the world's internet users bank online at least two or three times a week, and 14% of them claiming to bank online as often as daily, according to a study released by The Nielsen Company.
South Africans, however, are ahead of the global average with 22% of SA respondents using internet banking daily and only 6% claiming to not use it at all.
This despite online banking fraud offering criminals the capability to defraud more people. According to a study on bank fraud and conducted by research firm Olive insight in March, 38% of respondents reported an increase in phishing attacks and over a third are seeing more online card not present (CNP) fraud.
It is quite clear that brands' online presence is becoming increasingly important in the way people do business.
In a recently released Global Consumer Report on Banking, Nielsen surveyed 25 408 internet users in 46 markets from Europe, Africa, Asia Pacific, North America and the Middle East.
Across the regions, internet banking appears to have taken off in a big way in Europe and the Pacific, with Europe home to eight of the top 10 markets with upwards of two in three consumers banking online at least once a week.
Banking by internet rather than telephone
South Africa also has a high number of internet banking users, with 70% of online SA respondents using internet banking at least once a month and 56% using it at least once a week.
On the other hand, telephone banking doesn't seem to be serving much purpose for the majority, particularly in the EEMEA region, where internet banking has replaced any need to speak to the bank in person.
A global average of 62% claim never to use telephone banking, while in South Africa 72% of respondents don't use the service at all.
In spite of increasing internet penetration, however, over half of respondents globally (54%) claim to visit a branch at least once a month, this occurring mainly in third world countries.
Regular visits to branches
A global average of 14% claim never to visit a branch, and one third claims to visit less than once a month. Fifty percent of South African respondents cited that they still go into their bank's branches at least once a month.
Forty-two percent meanwhile, stated that they visited their bank's branch occasionally but less than once a month.
While branches are being used less often with the shift to internet banking, ATM's are still a service used globally at least once a month by 80% of respondents.
South Africa is, in fact, among the top 10 countries interviewed whose respondents use ATM's at their main bank at least once a month (91%).