The internet is more and more becoming a branch bank in its own right. In the year 2006 one third (32%) of all Germans aged between 16 and 74 managed their bank accounts online which is a plus of 6 percent as compared to the year 2004 (26%). In 2007 this percentage is expected to increase to 35%. At the same time financial products are being advertised as massively as never before on the internet. Banks and ensurance companies therefore lead a development which applies to the entire German economy.
A crucial issue in connection with banking over the internet is, however, security. At the same time loans and accounts and other financial products are advertised on the internet as never before as banks and insurance companies invested about 18 million Euro in graphic online advertising in the first quarter of 2007.
These findings were communicated by the German Association for Information Management, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM) in Berlin yesterday on the basis of a study by Thomson Media Control. 