In the late 1990s, the financial services industry eagerly embraced the internet’s potential, seeing it as the natural successor to telephone banking – a way of better communicating with its customers, as well as cutting costs. While the standalone online banks remain niche, online banking is firmly in the mainstream, and it is slowly becoming the dominant channel when it comes to general insurance sales. Price comparison sites aside, though, since the initial flurry of activity, the development of online financial services has been more about evolution than revolution – a steady stream of refinements, but no fundamental changes.