Today marks the ten-year anniversary of the launch of Postbank’s Internet banking service. The Bonn-based bank went live at the address known throughout the whole of Germany, www.postbank.de , on November 11, 1996. Today, Postbank’s website is the most popular online banking site. Around 2.4 million unique visitors logged on to Postbank’s Internet site in September 2006 (Source: Nielsen//NetRatings).

Postbank has consistently promoted the expansion of its Internet offering over the last ten years. Online banking was launched in 1998, online brokerage in 2000, product sales using PIN/TAN from 2001, the “Postbank direkt” private customer portal in 2003, mobile banking in 2004 and the nationwide launch of mobile TAN (mTAN) and indexed TAN (iTAN) in 2005. These were followed this year by giropay, a further milestone in new interbank online payment procedures. Rapid, simple, cost-effective and secure – the consistent success of Postbank’s Internet offerings has been based on these terms of reference, which were established in 1996. These also remain a cornerstone for the further development of the Internet offering of the Bonn-based bank today. The online offering has regularly received a number of awards, including, for example, the renowned BIENE Award in Gold.

A panel appointed by the market research institute Nielsen//NetRating regularly investigates the popularity of websites among customers. The uniform measurement criteria used avoid distortions that would otherwise inevitably result due to the different statistics schemes employed by the various providers. Postbank is the most popular independent financial institution in Germany.

Top ten financial websites in Germany
(September 2006, unique visitors, Source: Nielsen//NetRatings)