Internet Banking Research

Much research was done on internet banking even before it was started. The research continues to this day, with more and more participants involved. As people use internet banking more, it gives researchers more reasons and subjects to study.

One study showed the devastation of identity theft on individuals. They had trouble getting jobs, loans, and insurance, for example. They could not conduct business in a bank, not even internet banking. Some ended up in very difficult positions.

The study suggested that banks, including internet banking institutions, would do well to proclaim themselves as the champions of identity protection. This would help them by limiting their losses. Besides this, they could charge a fee for the service.

Another study evaluated how people felt about the security of their internet banking transactions. 78% of them stated that they would like some kind of verification of their identities to be carried out at certain times. This, they thought, should be done at the moment that unusual transactions were being done on their internet banking accounts.

People seem to be getting more comfortable with internet banking every year. One study showed an increase in internet banking of 9.5% between 2006 and 2007. Another study predicts that 76% of the households who have an internet hookup in the year 2011 will also do internet banking.

It is true that internet banking and online bill paying are predicted to continue their rise in popularity. However, viewing bills electronically is expected to decline. Payment by other means besides internet banking is also expected to go down, including bill paying by phone.

Some studies have made use of surveys that ask people if they want alerts for their internet banking accounts, and if so, what kind. It turns out that consumers do want alerts for their accounts. What is more, they want a lot of alerts for a variety of occurrences.

They want to be alerted when a bill is going to be paid and when it has been paid. They want to be able to set an alert to tell them when a certain check has cleared. They want to be alerted when there is any inkling of fraud. This one, of course, is an especially good idea.

The demographics of internet banking have also been studied. It seems that the middle income people who use internet banking are afraid they will lose control without better records. Anything that can be done to give them better records will make them more comfortable to use online banking.

The lower income people have many reasons for not using internet banking. The over-$100,000 group seems to use it more. They also tend to use it without fear. This may be because they are in less danger of running out of money and overdrawing their account.

A new field of study is social networking. This is a concept that involves the use of internet banking by networks of people. They are usually in their 30's and 40's. They put their money together to make deals with financial organizations. Study is geared towards finding out how this will affect internet banking for these people, and for all internet banking customers.

Internet banking research is going on, and will continue to go on as long as online banking exists. The banks want to know how to stay profitable. Hopefully, they are also interested in how to better service their customers.