If you wanted to spend the day obsessing about money, finance2u.com would be a good place to start. It's a user-friendly resource of product information, calculators, comparative quotes and personal finance information.

The new website plans to make money on sales commission and fees from the financial institutions rather than the consumer, but this is no bargain basement.

The commission charged for lump-sum investments, for instance, is 2 per cent up to £20,000 and 1.5 per cent after that. While this compares favourably with the industry average of 3.5 per cent, it is not as cheap as the 0.5 per cent rate offered by execution-only discount brokers like LABrokers.ie and discountinvestmentsireland.com.

Where finance2u has the advantage is in convenience and content. The full range of financial products - taking in life and pensions, savings and investments, insurance, loans and mortgages - can be researched and compared and some can be applied for through the site.

Finance2u.com can process online applications with a certain number of financial institutions to which it is linked. To conduct business with a provider that is not a finance2u.com "channel partner", the site visitor can arrange an appointment with Marsh Financial Services advisers and consultants.

This would probably only be worthwhile for a complex product that required some explanation and more in-depth financial advice. For anything else, there's always the option of applying direct or through another website. Finance2u.com was developed by Vantage Intertech, part of Vantage Technology Group. It has taken the management team, led by Mr Simon Martin, 18 months to put together this comprehensive site.

"In addition to offering members the most comprehensive information, quotation and application service on personal finance and insurance available anywhere, we will provide personalised services," he says.

"Members can plan their finances using our range of finance calculators; they will be able to track the progress of any applications online and benefit from our monthly offers."

According to Mr Martin, finance2u.com is in the process of getting approval from the Central Bank to expand its stockbroking section to include an online trading element. There is also news content on the site. Each morning the site will provide a synopsis of financial news, which will be updated during the day.

There's no doubt that finance2u.com, with features like the 500-word personal finance glossary and taxation guide, will be a very useful source of information for consumers.

Whether it will be able to generate a sufficient volume of sales online depends on the public. In Germany 30 per cent of consumers access information on financial products via the Internet, but only 2 per cent of them go on to buy online.

When the barriers of security issues, tradition and caution start to come down in earnest, finance2u.com should be well placed to reap the rewards.