Net, phone banking flop: Study

While only 11.6% customers access net banking, 10% use phone banking services.

New-age banking channels may have taken the country by storm but when it comes to their actual usage, the picture is somewhat discouraging.

According to a survey conducted by ATM vendor NCR Corporation and market research agency AC Nielsen ORG-MARG only 10 per cent of the respondents accessed phone banking and just 11.6 per cent availed of internet banking services.

The survey also revealed that 95 per cent of the respondents use ATMs as a cash dispenser.

Customers clearly use the alternative banking channels for specific set of transactions. Phone banking is extensively used for making balance enquiries (81 per cent) and branches for depositing cash (35 per cent) and other transactions.

The number of banks using internet for banking may be small, but nearly half of them are either firm believers that it's safe to transact on the net or are willing to take a risk.

Nearly 44 per cent of those using the internet actually carry out online money transfers and the rest use the channel for checking balances in their accounts.

Most bank customers also find ATMs almost as secure as branches. According to the survey, 84 per cent of the respondents graded branches for highest security, while about 77 per cent assigned ATMs a similar grade.

Comparatively, only 29 per cent considered phone banking as secure and about 25 per cent felt similarly about net banking.

NCR's managing director, Deepak Chandnani, said the primary reason for customers' hesitation to avail of phone and internet banking facilities is the absence of plastic card usage in these banking channels. Only a password does not instill confidence in customers, he said.

The survey underlined the almost uniform acceptance of ATMs as a banking channel in most cities as well as across various socio-economic classes.

---

Not banking on

More than 60% respondents said they accessed ATMs at least once a week or more

Maximum access of branches was about once a month (43%)

More than 60% said they accessed phone or net banking once a month or even less

Only about 17% said they accessed phone/ net banking once a week or more