Chinese snub online banking amid safety concerns

The majority of Chinese consumers refuse to use online banking services because they are concerned about their safety, a recent survey by the China Financial Certification Authority (CFCA) has shown.

Sixty percent of the respondents said they "dare not" use services such as payment of fees and bank transfers over the Internet, said the survey which covered netizens and accountants in 10 leading cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

But the number of individual users of online banking services did increase by 170 percent and the number of enterprises nearly tripled this year against the same period last year, according to the survey.

About 40 million people are using online banking in China, only one third of its total population of netizens.

A survey last year also showed that more than half of respondents did not plan to use online services in the near future mainly for safety concerns.

"Online banking has become an arena of competition between Chinese and foreign banks now China has opened up its financial sector," said Li Xiaofeng, general manager of CFCA.

Despite the results of his survey, Li said he believed that the demand for online banking would rise and that online banks have "bright prospects" in China.

Source: Xinhua