In one year, a fifth more users of internet banking

Croatian internet banking has continued its intense growth this year as well. This is evidenced by the latest data from the Croatian National Bank (HNB), which shows that by the end of September this year, there were over 800 thousand physical and legal users registered, which is almost a fifth more than a year ago.

Analysts say that in the current crisis period, where citizens and legal entities are trying to save wherever possible, internet banking attracts an increasing number of users due to savings in money as well as time. About 642 thousand citizens most often use the internet for payments, checking the balance and transactions of their accounts, and reviewing expenses on cards. The value of all payment transactions via the internet in Croatia, according to HNB data, amounts to about 592.4 billion kuna in the first nine months of this year. Of that amount, according to the same sources, as much as 302 billion kuna or 51 percent were conducted by users of the largest Zagrebačka banka. This bank had the highest number of internet banking users at the end of September this year, around 411 thousand, which is an increase of about 20 percent compared to the same period last year.

In the second largest bank, Privredna banka Zagreb, there are about 200 thousand internet banking users. They add that in the first nine months of this year, the number of transactions among citizens has increased by more than 30 percent. This bank has also noticed a 60 percent increase in the use of internet banking for currency exchange transactions, i.e., buying and selling foreign currencies. According to HNB data, over 48 million transactions were conducted via internet banking in Croatia in the first nine months. Of that, 80 thousand users of our third largest bank, Erste banka, made about 15 percent or nearly 7.6 million transactions. From Hypo banka, we learn that they have a trend of continuous growth in the number of users, currently at 39,200. The total turnover of financial transactions for the first nine months of this year amounted to about 62 billion kuna. Raiffeisen banka today has more than 94 thousand users, which is an increase of 16 percent or 13 thousand users compared to the same period last year. (Nikola Prskalo)