Within recent years the U.S. online banking industry has moved further away from being a niche market, accessible mainly to early adopters, and closer toward being a mainstream market. By 2004, about 49.2 million U.S. adults were banking online.

The early promise of Internet banking has been realized. Many factors, including the success of broadband Internet access, new online banking features, and household growth, will continue to contribute to the growth of the Internet channel, even eclipsing more traditional channels like telephone banking. Regulatory changes such as Check 21 will also help to drive the evolution and acceptance of a paperless banking environment. Mintel expects that online banking will eventually become at least as widely used as its electronic precursor, the ATM.

Within recent years the U.S. online banking industry has moved further away from being a niche market, accessible mainly to early adopters, and closer toward being a mainstream market. By 2004, about 49.2 million U.S. adults were banking online.

The early promise of Internet banking has been realized. Many factors, including the success of broadband Internet access, new online banking features, and household growth, will continue to contribute to the growth of the Internet channel, even eclipsing more traditional channels like telephone banking. Regulatory changes such as Check 21 will also help to drive the evolution and acceptance of a paperless banking environment. Mintel expects that online banking will eventually become at least as widely used as its electronic precursor, the ATM.

This Mintel report examines the external factors that drive the U.S. online banking market: number of households and household growth, Internet connectivity and broadband, the decline of phone banking, changing demographics, online bill payments, customer loyalty, and identity theft and other security issues. Mintel also estimates the size of the online banking market within the context of the consumer banking sector.