Banking Sites Share of Traffic up 65% in One Year

The banking sector continues to show strong growth in the UK with traffic to the sector increasing by 65% in one year, according to the latest report from Hitwise. Banking websites now account for 1.42% of all traffic on the Web, up from 0.86% in May 2002.

Dutch Financial services company ING, which this summer launched its online bank in the UK, joins a competitive online space. However, despite a multimillion pound launch, early indications show that ING Direct is yet to threaten the market dominance of Egg.

Egg is still the most popular internet only bank with 5.9% share of traffic to the online banking sector. By contrast, ING Direct 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.

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.

All change at the top for System Concepts
Source: System Concepts Ltd, 3 July 2009
 
Leslie Fountain has been promoted to joint Managing Director of leading usability consultancy System Concepts.

Life in UCD immortalised in fiction: you couldn't make it up
Source: UN, 2 July 2009
 
Sarah Herman's fictitious book on life in a user-centred design company has hit the shelves and The Guardian's book pages...

Interfaces Magazine - Issue 79: The Education Issue
Source: Interaction Group, 1 July 2009
 
The latest issue of Interfaces is now available as a free download from the Interaction Website.

Two new Behavioural research Tools from Noldus
Source: UN, 30 June 2009
 
Tool updates make on-site behavioural data collection easier.

Cell Phones that Listen and Learn
Source: MIT Technology Review, 29 June 2009
 
New software tracks a user's behavior by monitoring everyday sounds.

Top Six Don’ts for Usability Testing
Source: FutureNow Inc., 27 June 2009
 
Six tips for creating quality usability tests to ensure useful feedback from testers.

Usability: ‘Lovely software. But I can’t work it’
Source: FT.com, 26 June 2009
 
In a recent survey by Global Graphics, 77 per cent of office workers estimate they lose up to one hour a week because business software is difficult to use.

And what do you do?
Source: Dexo Design, 25 June 2009
 
How do you describe your job role? Here are the results of a recent 'Preferred UX/UI Title' Poll.

Most Doctors cite Usability as critical to Electronic Health Record Adoption
Source: TMCNet, 24 June 2009
 
It's all about 'meaningful use'.

Glossy monitors look good but can hurt
Source: QUT, 23 June 2009
 
A new advisory cites research which suggests high gloss monitors make users sit awkwardly.