And if every bank worth its salt offers “e-banking” does that mean there are no lingering after effects — for instance security indigestion?

Even though online banking has seen growth, apparently most people still think there are relevant concerns. A 2001 study from the Internet analysis firm Emarketer, cited in the Washington Post, shows that confidence is still low.

“Contrary to wild growth projections from three years ago, online banking shows no signs of revolutionizing the industry or causing banks to close in large numbers,” Post reporter Michael Bartlett wrote. “Online banking remains a mystery both to consumers and bank executives.”

The Online Banking Report Newsletter cites different figures that “usage [is] nearing 20 percent of U.S. households today and heading toward 33 percent in four years.”

Another, earlier OBR study though asks the slightly different question: “Why have the Internet-only banks failed to catch on in the same way that Amazon.com or CDNow caught on with book and music buyers?”

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the administrator of national banks, currently approves only 10 such FDIC-insured banks, such as Compubank and Presidential Online.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation seemed satisfied a relatively long time ago that the future was strong. In a 1998 examination of “safety and soundness” procedures it gave the concept and its execution a stamp of approval. The report gives three reasons why e-banking will only become more popular:

“Electronic systems are becoming increasingly important due to the increasing competition from non-bank financial services companies, the telecommunications industry, and systems or software developers; the demand for more efficient and convenient capabilities; and the widening cost and delivery differentials between electronic capabilities and traditional delivery channels.”

Wells Fargo has more customers online than any other bank and it says a third of its customers with checking accounts have also signed up for online banking. Anyone who is a business or individual customer of a bank is eligible to be an online customer. Still, those who take advantage of online banking remain the exception.

For individuals the difference between banking online and what can be done through the telephone is minimal. The difference comes for businesses and a host of varying services — from fraud protection to printing out invoices and instant loans — that can make the experience beneficial.

But one question rises above all others: With the professed desire of banking customers to have that “personal touch” with there bank, will the momentum exist to push online banking into the forefront.