As from June 30, Bank of Valletta will be switching BOV internet banking subscribers to the electronic statements (e-statements) service, in its drive to reduce the use of paper and the negative impact on the environment.

BOV internet banking customers will be able to view and access all statements related to their current, savings, fixed-term deposit, loan and credit card accounts, as well as their statement of fees, online at any time of the day from the comfort of their home or office. The bank will discontinue sending paper statements by mail to internet banking subscribers.

“The bank on a yearly basis generates over 1.3 million statements in paper form, amounting to circa 2.5 million sheets of paper and 1.3 million envelopes. This goes against our ethos to be a greener and more eco-friendly bank,” said Ernest Agius, chief operations officer.

“Over the past year we managed to reduce around 50,000 kg of CO2 emissions through other eco-friendly initiatives. This year we are also focusing on our ope­ra­tional processes and identifying areas where we can further limit the impact on our environment. Our online tools provides the bank and our customers with the opportunity to make the switch towards a cleaner, secure and efficient form of banking.”

Saving over 1m sheets of paper and 500,000 envelopes

Through their BOV internet banking customers are able to access, view, retrieve and download all their statements (via ‘view statement images’). When a pa­per statement is absolutely ne­cessary, customers can either print it themselves or order an official statement through internet banking. Paper statements sent by post to BOV internet ­ban­­king subscribers are sent at a charge as per bank’s tariff of charges. The bank retains statement records as per regulatory re­tention periods thus custo­mers have the peace of mind that at any point in time they can or­der a paper statement online or via the bank’s customer service centre.

The move towards e-statements will see a concerted effort by the bank and its customers to reduce paper usage and ensure a greener tomorrow.

“We are estimating that through this approach we will be saving over one million sheets of paper and 500,000 envelopes on an annual basis. Translate this to the number of trees required for the production of paper statements. Even so, the environmental impact from use of paper goes beyond trees but ranges to the carbon emissions required to produce, print and deliver paper statements all of which contribute to environmental degradation and an increase in greenhouse gasses released into the atmosphere.

“A high percentage of customers never even open their bank statements and these are often thrown away, creating further waste,” concluded the BOV COO.

Customers who are not yet subscribed to the BOV internet banking but want to make a statement by going paperless can send an e-mail to info@bov.com or call on 2275 3500 or 2131 2020 for further details.