Pew Internet has released its Online Banking 2006 report for USA(pdf). (via BeSpacific)

In contrast to the Commonwealth Bank’s recent Australian data , Pew’s data is not as upbeat:

Our December 2005 poll confirmed that online banking is holding steady as a mainstream internet activity, growing along with internet use generally, though not accelerating as have some other forms of online activities. Fully 43% of internet users, or about 63 million American adults, bank online. Home broadband users continue to lead the way, with 55% of these internet users banking online, compared with 35% of home dial-up users. Online banking is equally common among all age groups under the age of 65. Forty-two percent of internet users age 18-29, 47% of internet users age 30-49, and 42% of internet users age 50-64 bank online. However only 27% of internet users age 65 and older use their internet hookups for online banking. Also, we now find that men and women are equally likely to bank online.

Is security an issue in USA? Yes.

Trust is a big factor in choosing to bank online and then sticking with it despite news headlines about identity theft and phishing. Some industry analysts predict that online banking sites will have trouble attracting new customers because of the “trust gap” between internet users who are experienced with online financial transactions and those who are not.