Canadians Dig Online Banking

It's easy to have control over your bank account from home or work. The remote administration of accounts is best performed, as a study undertaken by ComScore shows, by the Canadians. 67.1% of the Internet users from this country have banked online in April 2008.

This percentage easily overpasses the one in the other English-speaking countries. While Britons have an online banking usage rate of 49.5%, 44.4% of the Americans use this method, with the last place being held by the Australians, with a 41.7% rate of utilization. The yearly growth is not that significant, being of only 2%, but this doesn't change the international ranking. The average number of minutes spent on this sort of websites by one user is 46, while the number of visited pages per person is 121.

RBC Financial Group, the most visited Canadian banking site, accounted for one third of the market, being closely followed by TD Bank Financial Group. The Bank of Montreal site, that registered the most impressive ascension - 22%, came placed third in the survey.

45-54 is the age segment where the most active online bankers in Canada are situated. "The segment shows both high penetration (73 percent) and the heaviest frequency in usage (12 visits and 157 pages per visitor per month)," as the study reveals. This comes in conformity with the fact that people this age usually administrate the highest amount of money, which might have an influence over their online behavior.

The study also took into account the so-called "light users," who aren't making a habit of dealing with online banking sites. This is the most susceptible category of users, because they haven't set up their preferences just yet. As far as the data show, in order to attract more light users, banks should rely on car rentals, private finance, online trading, career training and education. These are the top picks of those who don't use online baking on a regular basis.