eMarketer forecasts that the number of online banking households in the US will grow from 45.4 million in 2006 to 56.2 million in 2010.
"By the end of the decade, 56% of all US online households will bank online," says Lisa Phillips, eMarketer Senior Analyst and author of the new report, Online Banking: Remote Channels, Remote Relationships?. "That number may seem high, but is actually more conservative than many other researchers’ estimates."
Security concerns will remain a constraint in the US, in contrast to Europe, where online banking is more widely accepted. According to a poll by "Global Market Insite (GMI) measuring frequency of use, consumers in the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark lead the world in online banking. About 75% of consumers in those countries said they conducted at least half their banking business online, compared to 38% of Americans, 30% of Japanese and only 5% of Russian consumers.
GMI suggests that more frequent use in European countries is tied to the generally higher levels of online security already implemented by banks there. Some banks have introduced two-factor authentication policies and some now require a third ID code from online users.
"Growth in the US will be stimulated by the widespread introduction of two-factor authentication by the end of this year, as proposed by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council last October," says Ms. Phillips. "The strong online authentication measures that are already used by European banks are much of the reason why online banking is fast becoming the norm there."