Online banking is fast gaining popularity in Singapore.  In the last three months, reach across banking sites with e-commerce facilities has seen a gradual increase from 25.4% to 28.1% across March and May 2001, respectively.

  In May 2001, a total of 235,860 people reportedly visited the e-banking sites. Compared to December 2000, visitorship to online banking sites has increased by about 36%, making it one of the fastest growing Internet sector. 

  “The increasing popularity of e-banking indicates that more and more people acknowledge the benefits of accessing information and transacting online.  When people see that it is easier and faster to transfer funds online than to queue up at the bank, they begin to appreciate the value of e-commerce.”  Said Dr. Jack Loo, Country Manager, NetValue (Singapore).

  The duration across these sites, on the other hand, declined slightly from 25.1 minutes in March 2001 and leveled off at about 21.4 minutes across April and May 2001.  The slight decrease in duration was expected because of the increase in the proportion of visitors browsing for information at the banking sites rather than engaging in secured connections (i.e., customers logging into their bank accounts). 

  Accordingly, those engaging in secured modes were likely to take a longer time than those browsing for information.  “Visitorship to five Singapore-based online banking sites (dbs.com, oub.com.sg, uopbgroup.com, ocbc.com and keppelbank.com.sg) constituted majority of the reach across the e-banking sector in Singapore.  On the average, about two in three visitors actually engaged in a secured connection.  Comparatively, uobgroup.com has the highest proportion of visitors engaging in secured connections for the month of May 2001.”  Said Dr. Jack Loo. More....