Good piece of research that comes at it from a customer perspective, instead of the usual channel view in research.  Here is the executive summary, and its recommended for subscribers.

As a teaser, lets just say there is compelling evidence for the web channel within the customer buying experience.

Forrester Research: The Banking Channel Popularity Contest

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Length: 18 pages We examined the channels that consumers prefer to use when they interact with banks, looking specifically at eight different banking activities.

Some key findings:

• The branch and the Web are the most popular channels for buying, the Web is the most popular for banking, and the branch is most popular for service interactions.
• When we looked closer at the preferences by generation, we also found that consumers under the age of 50 prefer to research a product on the Web, consumers of all ages prefer to open a new account in the branch, and consumers older than 40 prefer to view their account statements in the mail.
• Our analysis also uncovered differences across genders, such as the fact that males prefer using the Internet more than females do, and females prefer using the phone more than males do.