Conducting business on a digital basis has grown in Latin America with notable emphasis in Brazil.

According to the Federação Brasileira de Bancos (FEBRABAN), 51 percent of all banking transactions within Brazil happened via internet-connected devices during H1 2013. In comparison to the same time period in 2012, digital transactions accounted for 46 percent, "but it still marked a shift toward the majority of banking transactions in the country being digital," per eMarketer.

Of the 51 percent during H1 2013, 45 percent of total transactions were conducted from a computer-based device, and easily represented almost all of the digital transactions in Brazil. Transactions over the computer grew by 2 percentages points when comparing 2012's data - 43 percent vs. 45 percent.

Mobile devices saw higher growth compared to computer-based devices when comparing to 2012. Mobile transactions were accountable of 3 percent of digital transactions in Brazil, but the figure increased to 6.2 percent for H1 2013.

According to comScore, Brazil was the third Latin American country to lead in online banking metrics. Brazil represented 43.7 percent of all Internet users who banked online during the surveyed period of March 2013. Brazil narrowly lost to Chile's second place, at 43.8 percent. Venezuela ranked No.1 with 47 percent.

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Brazilians, however, spend more time banking oline than select countries globally. According to IBOPE Media, Brazilians averaged one hour and 22 minutes banking online during July 2013, which was longer than second-place Germany's 47 minutes. The United Kingdom ranked third with 46 minutes while the United States clocked-in at sixth with 30 minutes. IBOPE Media Consultant José Clazans stated Brazil's lead was due to online banking users frequently visiting multiple banking websites.

The comScore and IBOPE Media figures did not account mobile devices.

IBOPE Media would later reveal the July 2013 online banking metrics in Brazil, and 22.1 million unique visitors were engaged in digital transactions. The 22.1 million consumers is an increase from 2012's 18.4 million unique visitors during the July 2012 period.

As Latin Post reported, per ESET Latin America, Latin Americans have heavily utilized the Internet during 2013 especially when it comes to online shopping. For Latin American shoppers, 32 percent shopped from a smartphone while 24 percent utilized a tablet. A majority of 76 percent admitted to shopping from home while 12 percent of online purchases took place from the workplace. Shopping in friends' homes or cybercafés was also noted with 7.5 percent and 4.3 percent respectively.

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