Popularity of online banking explodes, ABA survey says.

• Position: ABA RESOURCES - Statistical data

FOR THE FIRST TIME, older Americans prefer to do their banking online compared to any other method, a new ABA survey shows.

The survey of more than 2,000 U.S. adults, conducted August 12-14, 2011 by Ipsos Public Affairs, an independent market research firm, revealed that the popularity of online banking among customers age 55 and up has surged since last year. Fifty-seven percent of bank customers age 55 and up say they prefer banking online compared to 20 percent in 2010.

Overall, bank customers now prefer online banking more than all other methods combined. This year, 62 percent of U.S. adults polled named online banking as their preferred banking method compared to just 36 percent last year. This is the first year the ABA survey was conducted online. All previous surveys were conducted by telephone. ABA has conducted the survey annually since 1998. The margin of error is 2.2 percent.

The preferences for all other banking methods experienced declines. Customers named the following banking methods as preferred as follows:

* Internet Banking (laptop or PC)-62 percent (36 percent in 2010)

* Branches-20 percent (25 percent in 2010)

* ATMs-8 percent (15 percent in 2010)

* Mail-6 percent (8 percent in 2010)

* Telephone-3 percent (6 percent in 2010)

* Mobile (cell phone, Blackberry, PDA, I-Pad, etc.)-1 percent (3 percent in 2010)

"These survey results hammer home the point that retail banking has changed for good," says Nessa Feddis, ABA senior counsel and retail banking expert. "They tell us for...