Vigay.com : RISC OS Guide to Online Banking

I've setup this page to give a brief summary of what online banking services work and don't work with which RISC OS browsers.

I don't have a copy of WebsterXL and as I don't use Internet Banking myself, I've not been able to verify a lot of the results shown here. If any users can offer additional feedback, I would be very grateful and will update this page accordingly.

The good news is that NetSurf, the open source web browser project has come such a long way since first released, that it's now becoming a serious contender and allowing access to more banks.

Some useful help and comparison of online banking facilities

What you need
All online banking will (or should) require 128 bit SSL (secure sockets layer) encryption, so ensure that your brower can cope with this. Most browser now come with this built-in but an upgrade exists for Fresco version 2.13 (available from http://www.vigay.com/inet/upgrades.html) if you require it.

A tick indicates that someone has confirmed a site as working ok, or at least usable. A cross indicates that a site doesn't work with a particular browser and a blank entry indicates the status as 'unknown'.

What to do about banks that DON'T work with RISC OS browsers

A lot of banks seem to be rather blinkered in their view that if you're not using Microsoft Windows you're not wanted as a customer. The best solution would be to vote with your feet (or mouse button) and boycott them by registering with an alternative bank. As most are competing for customers, it's in their own interests to fix their website in order to attract the greatest number of customers.

If you think you might convince them to fix their badly designed web sites, please feel free to point them to my Fresco Specification page.

Complaining...

I hope to make available a range of standard letters of complaint that people can use as templates to either email or write to their own bank if it doesn't have an open-standards compliant website. This way, banks with badly designed websites may consider fixing faults to prevent their customers considering a move to an alternative bank - which, in this day and age of competition and less customer loyalty I'd have thought banks would be trying to avoid!

Comments/Suggestions??

Hopefully, this page will become a central repository of internet banking details for RISC OS users. If you have any additional experiences, either with banks listed above, or new ones I don't have listed, please contact me and I will update this page.

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One of the great strengths of the Internet is online banking: The ability to move cheap forum hosting funds around, view statements and more gives web surfers a stronger grasp on their finances. This, for a refreshing change, includes RISC OS users too. We investigated which banks work with which RISC OS web browsers and the results best phpbb hosting were quite uplifting. We also noted that many of the banks' websites used CSS, which degraded well for older web browsers including Oregano 1.

Barclays

Oregano 1 and 2 both work with Barclays Online Banking and it's possible to pay monthly bills, view transactions and search for best vbulletin hosting someone to pay money to. NetSurf is able to log into the service although it apparently gets into a tangle with navigation buttons once inside low cost web hosting.

Comment posted by Brown Bravo on 29th May 2010 @ 9:06am

I only ever use paypal and never use the other service. But i think paypal is secure enough. Thanks for this information

Comment posted by Faucets on 30th May 2010 @ 9:04pm

Wow ... I just found out that there are so many types of online banking transactions. So far only using conventional transactions. I think, is still pretty good

Comment posted by tempurpedic mattress on 3rd Jun 2010 @ 10:32am

Thank you for sharing the summary. It's very informative. And I think we must think twice before accepting online banking service.

Comment posted by poker bonus on 29th Jun 2010 @ 7:18am

I like your design of this product. All of the colours are so matching each other. Maybe I'll give you another project soon.

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Please note that by submitting comments using this form you are allowing all of the information submitted to be visible on this website. Your comment will be published immediately, so please proof-read before you add. Any comments deemed to be abusive or irrelevant to the topic of the article may be removed without warning.

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Bank/Financial Institution	Notes	Fresco 2.13	Oregano 1.10	Oregano 2	Webster XL	NetSurf	Firefox 1	Firefox 2
Abbey	They advise you to upgrade to the latest versions of MSIE or Netscape!! Doesn't appear to work at all since they've upgraded (downgraded!!) their site.
Alliance & Leicester	Graphics can appear all over the place, but should be usable.
American Express	You cannot log in via the 'Check and Manage Your Accounts' link on the Homepage. You must login via the 'Online Services' then 'Log in to My Account' links.
Bank of Scotland	Some display issues with viewing statements but nothing major. Bit slow with Firefox, but should work ok.
Barclaycard	A bit slow when using Oregano 1, but appears to work ok.
Barclays	Seems to be about the best so far If you encounter problems entering the first page, you may need to enter the following command from the command prompt; sysctl -ew net.inet.tcp.rfc1644=0 (you may wish to load this permanently to your !Boot sequence, by adding a line to the Choices:Internet.User* file).
Cahoot
Citibank
Cooperative Bank	Have recently updated their site and I've received reports that it now works ok with RISC OS browers, but display positioning is messed up.
Egg
First Direct	Badly designed site makes incorrect use of Javascript and extensive use of Java.
Halifax	Scripting deficiencies won't allow transactions (bill payments, transfers)
HSBC	Just about works with NetSurf, but colour makes some buttons almost unreadable so you need to know layout. Should work with O2 with scripting turned off.
INGdirect
Bank/Financial Institution	Notes	Fresco 2.13	Oregano 1.10	Oregano 2	Webster XL	NetSurf	Firefox 1	Firefox 2
LloydsTSB	Faking set to Mozilla 4.0 or above, MSIE 4 or above and Win98 works. Slight formatting problems in O1 but appears to work ok. Slow!! Apparently, faking set to Oregano 1.10 also works.
MBNA
Morgan Stanley
Nationwide	The secret is to use the PDA site at Nationwide Mobile Banking - Sign On or set browser faking to Netscape 4.72
NatWest	If you wish to complain, the NetWest Online banking helpline number is 0845 6050789 or, to save the phone bill, 0800 3280211
One Account	Javascript won't work with Fresco
PayPal	The online payment processor
Royal Bank of Scotland	They appear to have updated their site, and I've received reports that it now works ok with Fresco.
Sharepeople (part of AmEx)
Smile	Set faking to Explorer 5.5
Woolwich	If you wish to complain, they have a response form at http://www.woolwich.co.uk/response.htm

Overseas
ANZ (New Zealand)	Usual drivel about requiring Windows and MSIE etc
ASB (New Zealand)
Argenta (Belgium)	Layout is not 100% ok but all transactions can be done.
Banco Popular (Spain)	Requires Javascript though.
Commonwealth Bank Australia
Challenge, aka WestPac (Australia/New Zealand)	Works with faking set to Mozilla 5.01/MSIE 5.00/Win '98
Credit Agricole (France)
Direktanlage (Austria)
Fortis (Belgium)
HBOS (Bankwest) (Australia)	"Written for IE as everyone used or had access to it."
Hypo Tirol Bank (Austria)
La Banque Postale (France)
NBNZ (New Zealand)
Orange County Teachers Federal Credit Union (California)	Table rendering looks better in Fresco though)
Valley Credit Union (USA)

Online Banking using RISC OS Browsers

Some useful help and comparison of online banking facilities

What to do about banks that DON'T work with RISC OS browsers

Complaining...

Comments/Suggestions??

Add a comment to this article