PC Home Banking in Germany Increasingly Popular 28/08/00 PC home banking has become one of the most popular Internet services in Germany according to the latest Homebanking Monitor from Infratest Burke Finance Research. Currently as many as 25% of Internet users do their banking transactions online via the PC, in total about 4.5 million Germans. One year ago this figure was only 3.1 million. This huge increase is primarily due to the fact that more and more consumers in Germany have access to the Internet. Competition is intensifying in this booming market segment as numerous foreign banks and so-called non- or near- banks also push into the market. For example, the Monitor found that more than 50% of German online bank customers would be prepared to conduct their banking transactions via mail order houses or car manufacturers. Furthermore, the Monitor revealed that existing customers have additional expectations, for example, two in five online bank customers would also like to buy insurance from their online banks. Slightly less than half of today's online bank customers would also be prepared to buy concert, air or travel tickets from their respective online banks. This finding would justify the move by certain online operators to expand their e-commerce activities and establish themselves as financial portals. The Homebanking-Monitor is a continuing study based on 1,045 interviews which is conducted annually and is now in its fourth year.