Financials

The keenest online bankers may surprise you

Older people might be more technology savvy than you thought—at least when it comes to banking.

Nearly 2.3 million people over the age of 70 use online banking in the U.K., according to the British Bankers' Association (BBA), which reported on Monday that older people were some of the keenest users of online banking services.


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"These figures shatter the myth that this technology is only for younger generations—millions of older people are avid users of banking websites and apps," said BBA Chief Executive Anthony Browne in a press release.

HSBC reported that Internet banking customers in their seventies logged in more frequently than any other age group, and that its oldest banking app user was a hearty 108 years old.

While Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) said that the number of over-seventies who had downloaded its banking app had nearly doubled in the past year—more than for any other age group.

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The BBA found that over 450,000 customers aged 60 years and older used banking apps on smartphones, iPads and other tablets.

"Banking on the move is as much a reality for silver surfers as it is for students," Browne added.

The BBA figures were compiled from Britain's biggest retail banks, including Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Bank, NatWest, RBS and Santander.

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Older people represent an opportunity for the finance sector, with the number of over-sixties rising across the world both in real terms and as a proportion of the global population.

According to the World Health Organization, 2 billion people, or 22 percent of the global population, will be aged 60 or over by 2050, up from 11 percent in 2000. Furthermore, 400 million people across the world will be aged 80 or over by 2050.

At present, the number of "silver surfers" using Internet banking is comparatively low, however. According to the U.K.'s official statistics body, 23 percent of Britons over-65 use Internet banking, lower than for any other age group.

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