Online banking has taken off in Nordic countries, where more than one quarter of their populations use the service, a top OECD official said today.
Finland, Sweden, and Norway lead the world in e-banking, with Denmark fourth according to a study quoted by Mr William Witherell, director of financial, fiscal and enterprise affairs at the OECD.
In a speech in Edinburgh Mr Witherell said: "The differences in e-finance penetration among OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) member countries are striking."
"E-banking, for example, has gained significantly more acceptance in the Nordic countries than anywhere else. More than a fourth of the entire population in Finland, Norway and Sweden do banking online."
Other OECD members, including industrialised states as France, Germany, or the United States, did not even reach the five-per cent mark, according to national submissions compiled by the J P Morgan investment bank.
"In some transition economy countries such as Poland and Slovakia, the e-banking penetration is negligible (less than 2.5 per cent), but some of the highly industrialised countries score little higher," Mr Witherall said.
Share trades via the Internet, however, saw Canada, South Korea, and the US leading the pack with more than six per cent of their populations listed with e-brokers
"E-brokerage ... is particularly developed in some of the most mature economies," the OECD official said.
His figures indicated "a particularly high uptake of these services in North America, Sweden and, perhaps more surprisingly, in (South) Korea.
"In the US, online trading now accounts for 25-40 per cent of all stock trades" he said.
Sweden was fourth in level of e-broking penetration, behind the US, with roughly 4.5 per cent of Swedes listed with e-brokers.
AFP