THE NUMBER of Slovaks using internet banking has almost doubled over the last five years. While only a bit more than two people out of 10 administered their finances online in 2008, now it is four in 10, the latest survey by Poštová Banka showed.
“Internet banking is considered to be an absolute standard within banking services,” said bank spokesperson Lenka Lendacká, as cited by the TASR newswire, adding that it not only saves money and time for bank clients, but also makes communication between the bank and the client easier.
In 2013 almost 40 percent of Slovaks used services of online banking. But Slovaks still lag a bit behind the European Union average, which is 43 percent. Slovakia ranks 17th among EU member states. Within the Visegrad Four (V4) the Czech Republic, with 41 percent, narrowly overtook Slovakia.
Internet banking is highly popular in Scandinavia and the Netherlands, where it is used by over 80 percent of the population. By contrast, in Romania only four out of 100 use internet banking.
Greeks have also been slow to take to it, with only 11 percent using it.
