A study indicates that 71 percent of UK customers have recently intensified their online banking activity in order to monitor their finances more closely. 82 percent of those involved in the study claim that internet banking is more convenient and less time-consuming. In addition, online banking services have made them more efficient at managing their finances.

The study has also found that the number of people using their banks' online banking facilities reaches 38 million.

Due to the economic crisis, UK customers spend more time banking online than socialising on network sites. Data reveals that all UK citizens together spend 3 billion hours online banking per year, at an average of 1.5 hours per week. The time spent by people surfing social networking sites like Facebook, Bebo or MySpace, amounts to 2.7 billion hours annually.

The research was conducted by online bank Cahoot.