History of Digital Banking
The history of digital banking began with the branch-based banking model. This was largely unchanged and unchallenged for 500 years until banks began to digitise in the early 1990s. Since then, there has been a steady increase in the number of new digital banks the world over.
Below is the history of digital banking, as identified by GlobalData.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Timeline of digital banking
1472 – The world’s oldest bank, Monte dei Paschi di Siena, was founded, defining a model of banking consisting of branches, cheques, and paper currency that functioned largely unchanged for 500 years.
1953 – The first bank mainframe was built by the Stanford Research Institute to process cheques for customers of Bank of America.
1966 – Barclays in the UK launches the first debit card.
1989 – Call centre focused direct bank, First Direct launched by Midland Bank.
How well do you really know your competitors?
Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.
Thank you!
Your download email will arrive shortly
Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample
We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form
By GlobalData1994 – Banque Direct and ING Direct launch in France. Stanford Federal Credit Union became the first financial institution in the US to offer internet banking to all of its customers.
1995 – Boursorama Banque launches in France.
1997 – ING Direct Canada launches.
1998 – Egg credit card launches in the UK using client-side aggregation technology from vendor, eWise.
1999 – Fineco Bank in Italy, ING Spain, and Smile in the UK, launch.
2000 – Discover Financial Services and ING Direct launch in the US and in France. Skandiabanken launches across the Nordics.
2001 – Yodlee launches first account aggregation in the US using sever-side technology. Bank of America reports over three million customers now use online banking.
2005 – Rabobank launches Rabo-direct in the Netherlands.
2007 – Apple launches first iPhone.
2008 – Jibun Bank, a joint venture between Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and wireless operator KODI, launches in Japan. NAB launches Ubank in Australia.
2009 – Fidor launches in Germany, original ‘bank as a marketplace’ business model. Simple and Ally launch in the US.
2010 – Rakuten Bank launches in Japan.
2011 – First Direct launches first smartphone banking app in the UK, shortly followed by Natwest.
2012 – Alior Sync launches in Poland. Knab in the Netherlands.
2013 – N26 gets its banking license. Hello Bank (France), Instabank (Russia) and mBank (Poland) launch.
2014 – Tencent launched WEBank and Ant Financial launches MYBank.
2016 – Monzo and Revolut launch in the UK using the Bank of England’s two-step licensing process.
2017 – Atom and Starling launch in the UK.
2018 – Monzo raises a record £1m in one min 36 seconds funding round.
2019 – First series of open banking propositions hit UK market resulting in sharp spike in API calls across incumbent banks.
2020 – Facebook launches Facebook Bank, offering anonymised spending comparisons across social networks, backed by its down cryptocurrency.
2021 – Amazon launches a checking account with ‘people like you’ spending recommendations, POS financing options, and access to Amazon Go branches.
