Internet Banking in Ireland
The May 2007 survey
In 2007 we contacted the major banks in Ireland and asked if their online banking services was compatible with Mac OS X.
We asked if modern Mac systems were compatible with their online banking services, using:
- Mac OS X 10.4
- Safari web browser
The 2007 Survey
AIB
The bank said...: The AIB Internet Banking service is available on MAC PC using the Safari browser. Customers should have no problems accessing the service using a MAC PC.
Our comment...: AIB offered us one of the more positive replies and many of our clients have used their internet banking.
Bank of Ireland
The bank said...: It is possible to access Bank of Ireland 365 Online via the Mac OS X (10.4) using Safari Browser v 2.0.4.
Our comment...: Bank of Ireland were clear and precise in their reply and we have used their online banking over the last few years without any difficulty.
Ulster Bank
The bank said...: We received no reply from Ulster Bank
Our comment...: We have not used Ulster Bank's service
National Irish Bank
The bank said...: NIB provided the following address with details of minimum spec for Mac and PC users: click here
Our comment...: We have used NIB's service for a number of years, and it currently works well with Safari under 10.4. However their website makes it almost impossible to contact them online for information.
Permanent TSB
The bank said...: Our Internet Banking Service is Mac compatible. The site supports the Mac platform however most Mac's are equipped with the default browser, Safari. At this point in time, the Safari browser is not supported by our website: however this is a temporary situation that we hope to change in the near future. Alternatively, some Mac's come with Internet Explorer installed and this is supported by our site. You could also download the Netscape browser as it too is supported by our Internet Banking Service.
Our comment...: Permanent TSB are wrong here. There is no Internet Explorer available for the Mac, and no new Mac ships with Internet Explorer. The statement that Safari is not officially supported is poor, as we have clients using it successfully.
RaboDirect
The bank said...: Here is a list of the Technical Requirements for using our website:
When you use a Mac operating system (Mac OS 8.1, 9.x or Mac OS X), you can use the following browsers:
Netscape 7.1 and higher
Safari 2.0.1
Mozilla Firefox 1.x (tested on Mac OS 10.2.8)
Opera 8.0.2 (tested on Mac OS 10.2.8)
Other browsers / platforms might work but have not been tested.
Our comment...: Rabo offered the most comprehensive reply. We have used Rabo successfully. Their service comes with a "Digipass" code generator and, in our experience, works well in Safari. However we were unable to sign-up online using Safari, although we suspect this was a flaw in their signup form. We had to phone their customer service line instead to open an account.
Northern Rock
The bank said...: We recommend the following minimum requirements for use of our online banking facilities:
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5, or Netscape 4.7 browser. To find your browser version select "Help" from the tool bar on your PC software, click on "About" and the browser version will be displayed.
- PC running a Java script enabled browser, with a display resolution of 800x600 or above.
- Whilst MACS are not one of our supported systems our website is written in such a way as to allow access by as many different operating systems and browser combinations as possible.
- A printer will be required.
If difficulties arise with using the Safari web browser please try using Firefox which can be downloaded from www.mozilla.com
If you have any further queries please contact our customer service team on 01 6020324.
Our comment...: Northern Bank sent us the most clueless response. They made the assumption that Macs were the same as PCs and so provided a general list of requirements. The "Safari might work" type of response is quite irritating.
Halifax
The bank said...: A website reader forwarded her correspondance with them, and they state they do NOT support Safari and recommend Firefox instead. Halifax confirmed this for us when we followeed up, and leaves them as the only bank to provide no level of support for Macs.
Our comment...: Halifax didn't seem to know if their system was compatible with Mac OS X when we contacted them. The customer who contacted us said that Halifax believes Safari accounts for less than 1% of their website traffic and so do not support Safari. We have seen this short-sighted view in the past: we don't support Macs-very few people using our site use Macs- therefore we won't support them in the future. Very poor knowledge.