Internet banking is a hit with Canadians, according to a just-released NFO CFgroup annual marketing research study.

The study, “How Canadians Bank”, says nearly a quarter of the adult population in Canada has signed up for online banking, up from 20% the same time last year. It also indicates that six in 10 users click on their account at least once a week while 82% say they usually bank online at least once a month, up from 77% in 2000.

“Canadians are increasingly handling their finances electronically. Usage of Internet and telephone banking, as well as bank machines is up this year, while visits to bank branches have declined. Also, a growing number of Canadians are using debit cards, while fewer are writing cheques,” said Rhonda Grunier, vice president of NFO CFgroup.

Still, the majority of Canadians continue to deal with their financial institution at the branch level: 58% report visiting a branch in the past month to conduct a transaction with a teller or other branch staff, although this is down from 61% in each of the past two years.

Banking machines are the most popular means of conducting routine transactions, with 79% of Canadian adults having used an ABM in the past month, up from 76% a year ago. Canadians have a strong preference to withdraw cash from ABMs rather than at the branch. And ABMs have overtaken branches as the preferred means of depositing cash and cheques.

Although ABMs are the most common way of paying bills, transferring money between accounts and doing balance inquiries, Canadians are increasingly turning to the Internet and telephone for doing these types of day-to-day transactions. “Online and telephone banking are popular among Canadians for routine, day-to-day transactions, but are less accepted when it comes to acquiring financial products or services where important decisions are made or where people might need to seek advice,” said Grunier.

The study also found that registration for online trading has increased dramatically over the past year among Canadians with an account at a discount broker, from 47% to 63%; however, trading frequency is down sharply. Weekly users of online trading have fallen from 53% to 25% of registrants.

For the study, NFO CFgroup interviewed a nationally representative sample of Canadian adults 18 years of age and older. A total of 2,034 telephone interviews were conducted between October 3 and 16. The survey results are considered accurate to within 2.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.