Information Week reports on the growth in online sales this holiday season.

Online sales using Visa-branded cards for the week ended Dec. 26 reached $1.8 billion, up 58% over the same period last year, while the number of online transactions reached 24 million, up 43% from a year ago, according to Visa USA's SpendTrak report.

For the week ended Dec. 19, Visa's online sales were $2.7 billion (up 39%) and online transactions were 34 million (up 34%). Similar increases were recorded for preceding weeks.

Bank of America has released the results of a new study of consumer thinking regarding online banking.

Overall, when consumers were asked, "What prompted you to start banking online?" 64% cited 24-hour access to their accounts, 54% noted convenience and 48% answered that online banking saved time.