Officials at Avon-based COCC, whose headquarters are shown above, say 17 percent of the company’s clients have signed up to use its eStatement system. Electronic bank statements have become increasingly popular throughout the state.
Banks across Connecticut, as well as their customers, are showing increasing enthusiasm for convenience in the form of check imaging and online banking. And now electronic bank statements – a similar convenience – are also taking off across the Constitution State.
Avon-based COCC, which provides technology services for financial institutions, announced last week that 17 percent of its clients have signed up to use the company’s eStatement system.
“It is popular [with our customers],” said William Lidestri, senior vice president of Windsor Federal Savings in Windsor.
The bank installed the system about a year ago, he said, adding that he has been surprised by the enthusiasm of business customers who have signed up.
“I think [the system’s] been really attractive for businesses,” he said.
Bank employees do not enroll the customers in the eStatement program. Instead, they provide support and customers can enroll themselves via the bank’s Web site.
Lidestri said he also has seen magnified cost benefits to the bank when business customers convert to eStatements because business accounts generally have more account activity resulting in more statement pages and, often, increased postage.
“The enrollment is almost effortless. Almost 50 percent of new business banking clients that enroll in online banking select eStatements at the time of enrollment,” Lidestri noted in a prepared statement. “eStatements are one more arrow in our quiver when making the sales presentation to a potential business banking client. This is the perfect solution if the prospect is sensitive to the time that it takes to receive a mailed statement after the monthly cycle date.”
The program also makes 16 months’ worth of statements available online.
“Administratively, the conversion to eStatements works like a dream,” Lidestri said in his statement. “The customer clicks on a button on the main page in the online banking service and then a user agreement appears. If the customer accepts the agreement, all of their statement accounts enrolled in online banking are converted to electronic statements and the paper statements are turned off. The conversion is immediate and 100 percent automated. The bank’s role is focused on educating the customer and stimulating the adoption of both online banking and eStatements.”
‘Concrete Benefits’
Lidestri said he has not been keeping a close watch on the new enrollments, but noted that the numbers are steadily climbing.
He added that one reason electronic statements have been so popular is that they are a solution to one facet of identity theft, because they eliminate the possibility that statements can be stolen out of mailboxes.
“Growing acceptance of the Internet and image technologies, plus strong cost savings, is simplifying the sales of these products at community-based institutions,” noted Linda Stahl, COCC’s director of strategic products, in a prepared statement. “We also find that Internet statements are more secure than paper because they reduce opportunities for check fraud and statement theft.”
Other banks also have seen success in their offerings of electronic statements. First County Bank in Stamford, a COCC client, signed up 10 percent of its 7,000 home banking customers in two months with minimal advertising.
Tom Bartram, president of the bank, said that eStatements were an easy decision for the bank.
“[Electronic statements] increase customer convenience while keeping our printing and postage costs down,” he said in a prepared statement.
The eStatement product enables customers to sort their checking account information without changing figures. Marketing messages can be included in the electronic statements, and the bank can retrieve all statements electronically through its secure network connected to COCC. All undeliverable statements are reported to the institution.
“By themselves, eStatements won’t bring a financial institution to COCC,” Stahl added in her statement. “But they sweeten any check or core processing deal. Coupled with the company’s image exchange product – which has captured 12 percent of its client base – eStatements deliver concrete benefits of the latest banking technologies.”
The COCC product provides full 128-bit Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption and “pull” technology that requires an account holder to request the eStatement after receiving an e-mail notification that his statement is ready. Customers can view up to 16 months of statements online. Average savings are close to 40 cents per statement.
