Nearly four out of five online banking customers now ignore emails that purport to be from their bank, according to data commissioned by RSA.

The annual study, conducted by market researchers Infosurv, found that lack of trust in such emails had risen from 70 per cent ion 2004 to 79 per cent. Nearly two thirds of those questioned hadn't seen any drop oin the number of phishing emails they received.

The research also found that people want to have their online banking monitored, with nearly nine out of ten people saying they would be happy to be monitored while online and 59 per cent of respondents feeling that the bank should contact them if it suspects suspicious activity on their accounts.

Consumers seem to feel comfortable with the notion of their financial institution monitoring their online activity and contacting them when something suspicious is detected, just as they have become accustomed to for years in the credit card space.

Although the banking community has been making noises about introducing stronger identity management systems early progress has been slow and the survey shows little support for some products.

Less than half of those questioned felt comfortable using a hardware token to access their accounts, although nearly three quarters want some form of stronger security.