Scandinavian financial conglomerate Nordea is reporting increasing uptake in all of its online customer services.
Nordea says it reached its targets for Internet banking services late last year, with the number of e-customers rising to 3.3 million, 104 million log-ons and over 121 million payments. Log-ons rose by around 23 million from 2001, as did payments by 24 million.
The bank says personal customers now make 38% of their payments via Internet, as opposed to only three per cent of payments in the branches.
"We aim to have 3.7 million customers this year," says Bo Harald, head of electronic banking.
He estimates that Internet payments this year will reach 150 million, and log-ons 120 million.
He is also pleased that the number of equity investors exceeded 300,000 in November, despite the difficult market conditions. The share of realised Internet transactions grew to 70% in November.
In Denmark, Nordea has 430,000 e-customers, an increase of almost 70,000 since last year. Banking via Internet has grown strongly in Denmark, says Harald, with the number of online payments growing by a third since 2001. Almost half of Nordea's online-equities-trading customers are Danish. The bank has also signed 115 merchants to the pan-Nordic Solo electronic marketplace, with a further 89 signed up for the direct e-payment service.
In Finland, Nordea has 1.2 million e-customers (up by 70,000 from 2001). In 2002 there were over 43 million log-ons (up seven million) and more than 54 million payments (up eight million). The Solo Market currently hosts 400 Finnish merchants with a further 850 signed up for the direct e-payment service. By the end of 2002, visitors to the market were up by 50% on the previous year, and e-payment purchases rose by around 70%, says the bank.
In Norway, the share of Nordea's Internet customers is increasing faster in relative terms than in the other Nordic countries. Online customers numbered 250,000 at the end of the year, a 40% increase from the previous year. Nordea's pan-Nordic electronic marketplace currently has only a few Norwegian merchants, but the number of visitors is stable, says the bank.
Nordea has almost 1.4 million online customers in Sweden, and gained a further 170,000 last year. During the year, Swedish customers made 31 million log-ons, (up nine million) and transacted 44 million payments (up ten million on 2001). There are 151 Swedish merchants on Nordea's Solo Market with a further 221 signed up for the direct e-payment service.
Among Nordic customers, the Swedes do the most online shopping, says Nordea, and Christmas sales reached record levels last year. Secure e-payments climbed 20% in the last six months, the bank adds.