Filenews 30 November 2025 - by Theano Thiopoulou
Cypriots are maturing very quickly digitally, at the level of using the internet for banking transactions and for this reason they have moved away from the bank branch in their majority.
Data announced by Eurostat show that in Cyprus the percentage of people using online banking services doubled, from 40.5% in 2019 to 80.5% in 2024. This was the largest increase recorded among EU regions, highlighting the fact that bank customers have sharply increased the use of digital transactions.
The share of people using online banking services increased across the EU over a five-year period from 2019 to 2024, from 54.6% to 67.2%. Over 90% of people in every region of Denmark, the Netherlands, and Finland used online banking. In Belgium, Czechia, Ireland, Sweden and the Baltic States, the majority of regions also recorded relatively high shares (at least 80%).
Eurostat reports that in recent years, the EU banking sector has seen significant growth in electronic services. Consumers now visit their local branch less often or not at all, the number of branches has decreased, and electronic transfers and online payments have become the norm. Online banking reduces the demand for local branches and the associated costs. Additionally, they often offer greater convenience, allowing banking transactions and other banking activities to be carried out at any time of the day and from anywhere.
The share of people using online banking has increased in the vast majority of EU regions (178 out of 188), at a relatively rapid pace. Eurostat notes that there are 115 regions where the share increased by at least 10 percentage points, with 43 of them reporting an increase of at least 20 percentage points.
There is also the other side. 10 EU regions are presented, where the share of people using online banking services decreased between 2019 and 2024.
Eurostat in its report indicates that in 2024 several eastern and southern regions of the EU had relatively low rates of people using online banking. This was particularly true in Bulgaria, Romania and – to a somewhat lesser extent – southern Italy. This pattern could be attributed to a number of different factors, including: many of these areas are predominantly rural, characterized by low levels of internet connectivity. Many of these regions have relatively older population structures, with people preferring traditional cash transactions and having security concerns about online banking.
Even in e-commerce, Cypriots seem to be quite familiar. The share of people who used the internet to order goods or services was higher than the EU average in each region of Czechia, Denmark, Ireland, France, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden. This was also the case in Estonia, Cyprus, Luxembourg and Malta. In contrast, the share of the population using e-commerce was below the EU average for each region of Bulgaria, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Croatia and Latvia.
In 2024, 13.5% of businesses with 10 or more employees in the EU's non-financial business economy used AI in their business. In Cyprus the percentage was 7.9%.
