26 April 2012 (BNS)

Out of all domestic bank transfers in the first quarter of this year, 99.3 percent were initiated online, recently published study commissioned by the Bank of Estonia reveals.

This trend has been fostered by the constant development of electronic banking services and the increasing availability of the internet for the general public, Bank of Estonia said in a statement.

Electronic payments were popular already a decade ago, however. For instance in 2001, their share stood at 90 percent.

Sixty-two percent of all domestic transfers in the first three months of 2012 were initiated by private individuals (card payments are not reflected in this particular figure), according to the study conducted by TNS Emor.

In the last five years, the number of online bank transfers has increased by almost 50 percent, while direct debit orders by one-third and mobile payments by 18 percent.

At the same time, the number of transfers initiated by private individuals at bank offices by means of a cash deposit or a printed payment order decreased by 22 and 47 percent, respectively.