But existing customers have been signing up for the service on their own, Ms. Brown said. Online customers have proven more loyal and profitable than regular customers, Ms. Brown said. Increasingly the online customers are choosing to receive and pay their bills online as well. Since November, Bank of America, along with CheckFree Corp. of Norcross, Ga., has been introducing Web-based bill payment and presentment across the country. Previously Web-based access was available only in California, Ms. Brown said Ms. Brown noted that Bank of America took more than 10 years to get two million online banking customers and only nine months to get an additional one million.
People are much more comfortable with doing their banking online.
Bank of America's presence in California has also helped it because the demographics of California residents closely match those of online banking users, who tend to be younger, of higher income, and Internet savvy, she said. First Union has 2.1 million online customers by that measure, he said, but 1.7 million if counts strictly online banking customers. A spokesman for Bank of America said it does not double count customers with both brokerage and banking accounts. Orginally published in American Banker on Jan. 1, 2001.