Only 4 per cent of Romanians use internet banking services, a GfK survey showed today.

The percentage of Romanians using internet banking services is considerably lower than in Croatia - 13 per cent, Austria - 34 per cent and the Czech Republic - 42 per cent.

Bulgaria has only 2 per cent of the population accessing internet banking services.

Only 3 per cent of the 9.6 million Romanians who have bank accounts use internet banking for transactions, and the same percentage use online card payments, lower than in Austria where 9 per cent pay online using their cards.

Only 1.6 per cent of Romanians make payments via phone, while 29 per cent of the population does it in Austria.

Romanians mostly go online to inform themselves, to communicate and for entertainment, these representing 4.2 out of an average of 4.5 activities on the internet, the GfK study shows.

One in two Romanians uses the internet weekly, 80 per cent of the population uses a mobile phone, while 13 per cent have a smart phone.

The survey GfK Financial Market Data System (FMDS) is performed once every two months to measure banking habits of customers aged over 15 in 13 European countries, Romanian Times has reported.

In Romania, 1,000 persons answered the poll, nationally.