Internet Banking on a Mac

The_Hornet

I've been using First Direct's "Internet Banking Plus" for viewing all my various accounts for some years and have been very happy with it. I love the convenience of being able to see everything in one place and being able to go online to any account from one place.

Now I've switched to an Apple Mac the software doesn't work. The only way I can make it work is to set up a Virtual Machine running Windows 7 and Internet Explorer. Although this does the job it is a bit of a faff to use. Does anyone know if there's anything else similar that would work in a "normal" browser (such as Chrome, Firefox or Safari) which runs on OSX?

Alternatively I'd be willing to use an Application directly. I've looked at Acemoney which was mentioned in another thread but this only seems to support American banks for online activity.

Any suggestions would be gratefully received.

Paul_1977

Why does it not work? what happens. Is an error message shown?

You can download Chrome or Firebox for Mac OS.

The_Hornet

Paul_1977 wrote: »

Why does it not work? what happens.

It requires the download of a "Digital Safe" which will only run in Internet Explorer. I've contacted First Direct's technical support and they confirm it will only run on IE, nothing else and they have no plans to make it compatible.

I already have Chrome and Firefox running on my Mac and, yes, I've tried it and no, it doesn't work

The_Hornet

The precise error message is:

Oops! Incompatible browser

To operate Internet Banking Plus you require the following:

account information and security details for the online accounts you want to include
a PC with Windows XP or above, running Microsoft Internet Explorer version 7 or above. If you are using Windows 8 this must be run in 'desktop' mode.
Internet Explorer must have ActiveX®* enabled. Once you have registered for the service you will need to accept a small download from first direct. This download uses ActiveX® to create your digital safe.
Please note: Unfortunately you will not be able to access the service using an Apple Mac or Windows RT. In addition, PCs connected to a Local Area Network are not supported.

Paul_1977

You can bootcamp the machine and install windows.

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201468

Otherwise there are ways to run IE on mac, but be warned there may be security holes.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/run-internet-explorer-mac-might-want/

pollypenny

I don't have any trouble with Internet banking in my iPad or MacBook.

Still have HSBC credit cards, so check that regularly.

kingmonkey

You could use WINE to run ie but again its a faff.

https://www.winehq.org/

colsten

The_Hornet wrote: »

I already have Chrome and Firefox running on my Mac and, yes, I've tried it and no, it doesn't work

I very dimly remember I had to install some sort of a FF extension in order to get it to work? I haven't used it in at least two years now, so my memory might be playing tricks. Reason I gave up trying it on a non-IE browser [on a Windows PC] was essentially that I never could get it to work. I use the native AccountUnity that unfortunately needs some ancient IE version.