Over 55s slow to catch on to the mobile banking revolution

Online and telephone bank first direct says its over 55's are bucking the national trend, as National Silver Surfer week highlights that as many as 1 in 5 people aged 55-64 have never used the internet.

The bank, known for having more tech savvy customers, says that half of its Silver Surfers use its internet banking service, only 10% less that those under 55.

However, the direct bank's text message banking service which sends statement updates to customers' phones to tell them their balance and last few transactions, tells a different story.  Just 1 in 5 of its over 55s have signed up to the service versus almost 43% amongst the remainder of its customers.

Natalie Cowen, Head of Brand commented: "We were the first telephone bank when we launched just over 21 years ago, one of the first to introduce internet banking and the first to launch a truly transactional 'Banking on the go' iPhone App.

"Many of our customers have been with us since the beginning of our journey of innovation, so I'm not surprised that many of them, including our over 55s, choose to regularly do their banking online."