Bank of America's Web banking customers can now now elect to stop getting paper statements through the post and access them online instead.
Customers who choose to stop delivery of paper statements will instead receive an e-mail when their statement is available and access the information by logging onto the the bank's Web site.
Currently, customers can see a list of transactions as they occur. But the new service provides a statement image with all account information previously received by post, including mandatory legal disclosures.
Bank of America says the service will provide customers with faster and convenient access to 12 months of statements in one place and will reduce paperwork and filing. Sanjay Gupta, e-commerce executive, Bank of America, says: "This is a new convenience that will help them get statements as soon as they're available, while saving customers the hassle of filing paperwork at home."
In addition, the bank says if one million customers stop receiving paper statements, more than 2880 trees would be saved a year.
The service is currently available to consumer and small business current account customers in the mid-Atlantic region, the south, Florida, Texas and the Southwest, with roll out in California scheduled for early next year.
Bank of America says one indication that online account statements will be popular is the success of its online cheque imaging service. Customers currently view more than 200,000 cheque images daily.