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Bank Systems & Technology
Fiserv's survey on consumer billing and trends shows
adoption of online banking by a wide demographic. Online banking and mobile payments are growing at a faster pace than the
Internet, according to Fiserv's 2010 Consumer Billing and Payment
Trends Survey.
The survey, published today and available through Fiserv's website,
also found online bill payment users to represent a broad demographic in
age and income, that consumers who use online bill payment are more
loyal to their financial institution and that the bill payment
marketplace has become increasingly fragmented. There is an almost even
split between males and females using online bill payment services.
While about 95 million U.S. households use the Internet, 72.5 million of
those households participate in online banking, with 36.4 million using
online bill pay. Those numbers represent a 51 percent increase in
Internet usage per household since 2000, and an even larger increase of
84 percent in online banking and 78 percent in online bill pay. The
number of online bill payment users receiving e-bills is also
increasing.
With the higher rate of adoption comes a more diverse userbase.
"The face of online bill payment has changed significantly over the last
decade," said Geoff Knapp, vice president, Online Banking and Consumer
Insights, Fiserv. "Early users were tech-savvy and tended to be young
and male, as is typical with new technology. Now it's moms and seniors
and people at all income levels using the service. Online bill payment
has become mainstream, and there's still room to grow."
Though growth in online bill payment provided by banks is positive, the
overall market remains fragmented. One area of weakness could be among
Generation Y, consumers born between the late-1970s and the late 1990s,
who are adopting new technology at a high pace, but are more likely to
pay through a biller direct service.
The Fiserv report concludes online banking and bill payment are no
longer "early adopter" technologies, and often lead to increased
customer loyalty. While consumers often hear about online options
through word of mouth, bank branches have the best opportunity to
educate customers on the services they provide. |
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