Canadians embrace electronic statements

Are your clients attuned to “eStatements”? Receiving electronic statements of banking transactions is becoming increasingly popular, according to a study by Forrester Research. However, Forrester says financial firms are not doing enough to capitalize on this trend.

Nearly half of all Canadians who bank online receive electronic statements of their activity, notes the report. The problem is, 86% of those also continue to receive paper statements. Credit card users are the worst offenders, with just 4% of customers saying they receive their monthly statements only in electronic form.

“These consumers can be convinced to let go of the paper statement,” notes Catherine Graeber, the lead author of the study, but it’s up to financial firms to help consumers break their addiction to paper.

With so many Canadians receiving both paper and electronic statements, for many financial institutions “the return on investment has been elusive,” says Graeber, who identifies President’s Choice Financial, RBC and Wells Fargo as being amongst the firms that have had the most success at getting their clients to go paperless.

Graeber offers specific ideas to steer clients away from paper. Her main recommendation is to offer financial incentives to encourage electronic-only statements. For example, PC Financial does this: The bank charges consumers $5 each time they request a paper statement.

RBC, meanwhile, shows consumers the features and benefits of eStatements and lets consumers view them as a PDF. It also provides consumers with step-by-step instructions on how to enrol in the eStatements program during online banking sessions.

Wells Fargo takes a more aggressive stance: As soon as a client enrols to receive eStatements, the hard copies are discontinued. But the firm also stores records for seven years, and sends monthly reminders when the statements are available.

The message from Graeber’s report is that firms must educate eStatement converts by showing them everything from the basic skills, such as how to view and print their statements, to more advanced procedures such as how to safely and securely store seven years of eStatements for tax and record-keeping purposes. (Click here to learn more about how financial firms can get Canadians to adopt eStatements.)

Canadian attitudes toward electronic statements have come a long way in a short time. Forrester first asked how many Canadians receive eStatements three years ago. Back then, only 9% of online Canadians did, versus 47% today. Canadians who go online to pay their bills are the most likely group to elect to receive electronic statements.

While men have often been thought to be the typical early adopters of new technologies, the study found that women are actually warming to eStatements at a quicker pace in nearly all of the categories measured, except for brokerage statements and tax files.

Canadians have three main hang-ups with the notion of receiving their statements online: they want paper records; they don’t see the benefits; and they worry about the consequences of going paperless. Seven per cent say they couldn’t go paperless if they tried, as their financial provider doesn’t offer them the option of receiving eStatements.

Forty-one per cent of non-adopters say they won’t give up paper. This figure is highest amongst boomers and seniors.

Tax-related statements are the most likely to be in paper form, with 86% of Canadians saying they only use hard copies for these.

“What could your provider(s) do to have you give up paper statements and move to eStatements?”
Nothing, I’ll never give up paper statements		32%
E-mail me reminders when the online statements are available		30%
Offer a $5 credit to my account		29%
Store seven years of online statements for tax and record-keeping purposes		29%
Give me the ability to print out the statement for record keeping		28%
Offer an online security guarantee protecting me from unauthorized access to my account		27%
Show me how to access and print the online statements		15%
Make the service easier to use		14%
Source: Consumer Technographics Q4 2005 North American Finance Online Survey, Forrester Research

Filed by Mark Brown, Advisor.ca, mark.brown@advisor.rogers.com

(10/26/06)