Study: PC Banking to Double in Next Three Years

Consumer market research firm Inteco released a new survey which indicates that private banking on personal computers will double over the next three years. The study said that 10 million users may utilize the method in the U.S. by 2001.

Inteco spokesmen said that it will take less than three years to double the number of households that have taken up PC banking since it debuted in the United States 14 years ago. The firm estimates that 4.8 million American households are now using PC banking.

"While banks and financial institutions can gain some marketing insight by profiling their existing PC bankers, these very early adopters will not necessarily be typical of the next wave of PC banking households," said Dr. Gerry Kurth, Inteco’s director of U.S. operations.

Kurth said that the majority of the next wave of PC bankers will come from a select ten percent of U.S. households, which he labels as the "Early Majority." The researcher characterizes this group as "rational buying households," who use technology to overcome time constraints. Almost all households in this segment consist of married couples with incomes of more than $80,000; three quarters are dual-income families.

In 55 percent of these households, both adults have college level education or beyond, compared to just ten percent in all households, the firm said.

Inteco said that it used advanced modeling techniques to figure out its results based on 2,500 interviews conducted in May 1998 to identify and rank U.S. households into five segments in terms of likelihood of becoming PC Bankers. According to Kurth, other differentiation points that identify the Early Majority include age, home ownership, household income, lifestyle variables and use of other technologies such as pagers and video equipment.

The company’s research also said that the group least likely to become online bankers is by far the largest single segment, comprising 44 percent of U.S. households. Members of this group labeled by Kurth as "Laggards" are, on average, 15 years older than the Early Majority, are less educated and are likely to live outside a traditional family structure.

(Contact: F.R. Dulaney of Inteco, 203-866-4400 ext. 23, e-mail fdulaney@inteco.com)