April 30, 2008

WaMu Switches 1M Accounts From Paper To E-Statements

Through its year-long “Make A Statement, Plant A Tree” campaign, Washington Mutual Inc. has raised $1 million for the The National Arbor Day Foundation.The campaign pledged to donate $1 to the foundation for every customer bank statement that was switched from paper to e-statements.

If one in five households switched to electronic bills, statements and payments, the collective impact would save 151 million pounds of paper, avoid filling 8.6 million household garbage bags with waste and avoid producing 2 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions, according to a study commissioned by the PayItGreen Alliance.

The foundation said it will use that money to plant one million trees in America’s national forests.

WaMu also has announced it will donate 2,200 Douglas Fir trees to environmental organizations in the Seattle area including the Cascade Land Conservancy.

Washington Mutual has also undertaken two consecutive carbon footprint analyses and is in the process of establishing carbon reduction goals.

By 2011, Forrester expects online banking adoption to grow by 55%, to roughly 72 million households. In 2011, 76% of online households will bank online. The largest adoption growth will come from the Gen Y segment, and in 2011, 85% of Gen Yers will bank online.

Javelin Strategy & Research seems to disagree with Forrester. In a recent report it said that the adoption of online banking has slowed. But, by underscoring the environmental benefits of paperless banking, financial institutions can continue to gain online customers, the report suggests.

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