Internet traffic statistics from Hitwise show UK banking sites recording a 65% increase in online visits over the previous year.
While clearers Lloyds TSB, HSBC and Barclays retain the top slots for Internet banking visits, the competitive nature of the stand-alone sector is revealed in analysis of weekly traffic stats from established brand Egg and new entrant ING Direct.
For the week-ending 7 June, Hitwise data reveals Egg to be the the most popular Internet-only bank in the UK, fifth in the overall list, with 5.9% share of traffic to the online banking sector.
By contrast, ING Direct, which launched a UK online bank last month, was only the 37th most visited banking site last week, accounting for just 0.46% of traffic. Nonetheless, ING Direct had the highest percentage of book marks, with 7.34% of visitors indicating their intention to return. It also kept its visitors on site for longest, with an average visit duration of 5 minutes and 53 seconds.
Deeper analysis of Hitwise's clickstream data shows 9.36% of traffic to ING Direct came from MoneySupermarket, a site that helps consumers find the best and most competitive financial products online, and 1.42% of traffic came from Egg. Of traffic leaving ING Direct, 2.56% of traffic went to Egg, and 1.71% of traffic went to Cahoot.
Internet users between the ages of 25 and 44 are most active at managing their finances online, accounting for 56% of visitors to the banking sector. The South East had most visitors to the sector (16%), followed by London (14%), the East of England (12%) and the North West (12%). Females make up 46% of visitors, with Monday the most popular day for logging on to banking websites.