When it comes to surfing and using the Internet Canadians are more likely to behave like Scandinavians, who are considered world leaders in Internet use, according to a recent survey conducted by the North American Internet Advisory Panel. The panel was made up of 30,000 Canadian and 50,000 American participants.

The panel's results showed that Canadians were more likely to bank online than their U.S. counterparts with 61 per cent of Canadians and 29 per cent of Americans reporting having made a banking transaction online in the past year. The difference between the two countries has been attributed to a matter of trust on the Canadians part.

"The Canadian banking system has been extremely aggressive in promoting online banking and investing and has obviously done a good job convincing Canadians that the Internet is a viable and secure option," said Marcie Sayiner, Senior Manager of Research with Ipsos-Reid. "Of course, another contributing factor to the success of online banking in Canada is our national banking system compared with a much more regional and diffuse banking system in the U.S."

While Americans may be hesitant about conducting their banking online they are continuing to join the online community in droves. Sixty-one per cent of all U.S. households are registered online to date an increase of 8.4 million users since November 2000.

According to a survey conducted by eMarkerter, US firms are also concerned about Internet security. 31 per cent of US firms surveyed report security as their top concern, followed by the speed of their Internet connection.

The concerns on the part of both users and business owners are valid considering that computer viruses have cost users $10.7 billion in lost productivity and clean-up so far this year. The most costly virus for 2001 so far has been the Code Red worm at $2.6 billion. Last year's Love Bug remains the most expensive virus to date at $8.7 billion. All figures are in U.S. dollars.

Other comparisons include:

Internet use	Canada (%)	USA (%)
banked online within their first year online	48	13
invested online	15	10
shopped online	68	77
buy domestically	67	93
have Internet	40	61

Source: www.ipsos-reid.com

 

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