In this age of convenience, business leaders and consumers worldwide are looking for fast, easy and money-saving ways to manage their funds. Why leave the comfort of your home or office when your finances are just a click of a button away? Technology is the key that has unlocked the online banking market and is steadily pushing eBanking to new heights.

Checkbooks are fast becoming rare, ancient artifacts. Instead of using snail-mail to pay bills by check, more and more Americans are finding it’s quicker to make their payments online. And at the same time, they can check balances and manage their money on a daily basis, something that wasn’t always an option before.

Online banking is the future of money management. But banks agree it is not just about offering transactional, cash management, and bill payment services online. Clients are savvy, demanding the latest and greatest up-to-date products, services and resources. “It’s no longer just ‘come to our website,’” says Jan Ohtani, Bank of Hawaii vice president and manager of internet channel management. “It’s the combination of online tools, web casting, e-mail, mobile banking. They’re all coming together.”

Both locally and globally, banks are focused on accessing customer base outside of branch areas, out of state and out of country. Internet and remote access to online accounts makes that possible. Last year, Central Pacific Bank (CPB) experienced a 45% increase in online banking enrollments and as CPB’s senior vice president and manager Wayne Kirihara says, “the competition will be more in the product itself and the way we deliver technology.”

Every day more and more customers are getting connected. A 2008 study by analyst house Gartner, one of the world’s leading information technology research and advisory companies, found that online banking is now a mainstream access method for customers. The survey of 2000 adults found that 33% of U.S. customers, or the equivalent of 71 million people, regularly use online banking services.

Interestingly enough, Gartner found the rise in online banking has not led to a decline in visits to the branch or branch-based services. Instead it has resulted in the greater use of other services such as ATMs and telephone banking. Ohtani agrees. “People are using multiple channels,” she says. “The branch is still very, very important. The online channels are very important. People still like to use the phone. There might be a preference to use one channel over the other for daily stuff, but they use a combination of channels.” Researchers have found that there is one catch. Usage levels for online banking are up, however “…only if (consumers) see intrinsic value from the new technology,” says David Schehr, research director for Gartner’s financial services research team.

Gartner also found younger customers and high-income earners are most likely to bank online. The analyst house says this mass acceptance of online banking shows that banks need to start treating the Internet as a multi-dimensional delivery channel where banks can differentiate themselves and provide better communication with customers.

New banks don’t just pop up every day. Two years ago, Pacific Rim Bank (PRB) became one of only five state-chartered banks in the islands - the others are Ohana Pacific Bank, First Hawaiian Bank, Bank of Hawaii and Central Pacific Bank.