Online banking interest in U.S. stalls

Worries about security have led to an apparent cooling toward Internet banking in the United States. A new survey from Ipsos Group indicated Tuesday that the number of Americans who use online banking hit a plateau during the past 12 months amid concerns about hackers and spam.

The poll surveyed 1,000 American adults about their banking habits during the year ending in August 2005. It determined that while 39 percent of the respondents did some banking business via the Internet, that number was largely unchanged from the previous 12 months after a relatively dramatic initial growth spurt.

Ipsos said high-profile reports of security breaches and identity theft gave pause to many potential users as did concerns that their e-mail addresses and other personal data would be sold to telemarketers.

Copyright 2005 by United Press International