Through outstanding brand-name sites. Reaching the masses. Banks are the whipping posts of the online financial world. Constantly chided for being Internet slow pokes, the banking world took another jab from Jupiter Communications. Bankers attending the conference shot back that banks are still the preferred choice when it comes to consolidating financial services.
Trouble is, few consumers want one-stop financial shopping.
Online users currently maintain separate relationships with financial institutions for banking, brokerage, investments and insurance. By comparison, more than 5 million users trade online. According to a recent report by Jupiter Communications, the number of American households using online banking jumped 78 percent in 1997, to 4.8 million, and is expected to reach 18 million households by 2002. While California banks led the initial charge online, Citibank is now the most aggresive Internet player. One Internet-only outfit, Net.