Bank mail goes digital
Banks are saving hundreds of tonnes of paper every year by switching to digital statements.
The days of soggy bank statements clogging up letterboxes are coming to an end as banks drastically cut back on the amount of snail mail they send.
BNZ is the first of the big banks to stop mailing bank statements to all retail and small business customers registered with online banking, with the goal of reducing its carbon footprint.
Customers wanting to continue receiving paper statements must now take positive action by opting in. Until recently the banks’ default option was for customers to opt out.
Some are unhappy with the move and there are calls for any cost savings to be passed onto consumers.
Paul Graham said on BNZ’s Facebook page the move was a cost cutting exercise and asked whether the change would result in a discount in his account fees.
Deb Bratton said her two daughters received letters from BNZ saying it would not be posting statements anymore to save paper.
‘‘We do not receive statements anyway. Surely you are wasting more paper and money to send us this information which is irrelevant anyway,’’ Bratton said.
BNZ director of retail and marketing Craig Herbison said the bank was previously mailing more than 2.9 million bank statements a year, equating to about 150 tonnes of paper, which is the ‘‘equivalent of a small forest’’.
‘‘So we’ve made it our mission to reduce the amount of statements we’re sending out and our reliance on paper,’’ Herbison said.
BNZ customers have had the ability to turn off their paper statements for more than five years and a significant number had already done so, he said.
The customers it recently moved to online statements were retail and small business customers who used online banking but had not got around to turning off their paper statements.
Digital statements gave customers added security and convenience, he said.
Statements remained available for seven years and customers could set up reminder notifications, he said.
ANZ spokesman Stefan Herrick said new customers were sent statements by email, but customers could request paper statements at no extra cost.
Existing customers received paper statements unless they said otherwise.
For its most popular ‘‘go account’’ 87 per cent of customers received electronic statements.
Westpac spokesman Chris Mirams said more than half of its customers had chosen not to receive paper statements.
‘‘This has purely been their decision with no prompting or asking,’’ Mirams said. An ASB spokeswoman said it was encouraging customers to stop their paper statements, and was ‘‘proactively suppressing’’ them for some products.
This was having a positive impact on the volume of returned mail that was otherwise sent to old postal addresses, she said.
The default position on new account opening was not to receive a paper statement but customers could opt in.
Commission for Financial Capability investor education group manager David Boyle said electronic statements were more cost effective for providers, removing printing and postage costs.
He said the savings should be passed onto customers.
‘‘You would hope that it does bring down fees a little bit,’’ Boyle said.
New Zealand Bankers’ Association Bridget MacDonald said for tax purposes banks make bank statements available for a minimum of seven years, but typically keep records much longer as required by legislation.
You would hope that it does bring down fees a little bit. David Boyle