Putting some aside for a rainy day is back in vogue.

A new survey has confirmed that saving is back in favour but finds that, despite good intentions, Australians are struggling to get into a regular habit.

According to the latest Fin-Q survey from global financial services company Citi, 65 per cent of Australians say they would save extra cash if they had it, ahead of investing in various assets or even buying life insurance.

Only Koreans had a stronger drive to put the extra cash into savings (at 77 per cent) in the survey of 5200 people in 11 Asia-Pacific countries.

The result reported for Australia is more than 10 percentage points above the regional average.

However, while more than one in two Koreans (52 per cent) say they save money from every pay, just 36 per cent of Australians put money aside each pay day.

Respondents from Indonesia (49 per cent) and India and Singapore (both

46 per cent), also save more frequently than Australians.

Credit card repayment habits also differ among the nationalities.

Paying off the full monthly balance is more common among Koreans (87 per cent), Chinese and Taiwanese (both 78 per cent), compared with 58 per cent of Australians.

Still, the apparent interest in saving is in line with statistics showing Australians are tending towards debit cards and away from credit.

Market researchers have been reporting strong growth in the volume of purchases made using debit cards, especially since the advent of Visa and MasterCard debit cards that are able to be used online.

In mid-2009, East & Partners reported that nearly 30 per cent of merchant sales were now paid for with debit cards, a "substantial" increase of 19 per cent in the space of six months.

A new report due imminently is likely to confirm the trend.

The Citi survey found that as a result of the global financial crisis, 66 per cent of Australians were paying more attention to their finances than before.

Some 42 per cent said they had to make many tough changes to their finances in the past year (compared with top-ranked Thailand, which registered 68 per cent).

Asked what concerned them most, 65 per cent of Australians nominated "building my savings back up".

Paying down credit card debt followed at 54 per cent, then "doing a better job of saving for retirement" on 44 per cent.

Andrew de Graaff from Citibank Wealth Management says a common outcome across the 11 countries was the impact of the crisis and the fact that people had to make some sort of change to their finances in the past 12 months.

"We've always talked about the need for rainy-day savings," he says.

"In the past this has fallen on deaf ears but people seem to have woken up to the fact you do need a savings buffer to fall back on.

"In Australia, people have seen their super take a hit and are looking for safe places to park and grow their money. We expect this trend to continue.

"Banks need deposit funding and are becoming increasingly competitive. If consumers shop around they can get some really good rates ... whether that's day-to-day savings or locking into fixed-term special offers."

The Citi Fin-Q Survey, designed to measure the Financial Quotient or financial wellbeing of consumers, was conducted in October.

For full details of table please refer to PDF Money SMH 24-2-2010 page 11