Not all customers embracing bank's tree-hugging stance
Green is good, but how good is a green initiative?
Last month, HSBC Holdings rolled out its green machine (run by, quite appropriately, chairman Stephen Green), and we began to hear disgruntled customers murmuring about paying more for less service.
Increasingly, HSBC tellers began not to give out deposit receipts unless specifically requested. They only showed the transaction amount on an electronic panel next to the customer. Lai See wonders how much paper could be saved.
But there's more. The bank is adopting a new policy that affects four million customers next month.
Here is a pamphlet we got in the mail: 'To bring you the greatest convenience as our specially selected customer, you will automatically be provided the eStatement and eAdvice effective 6 December 2009.'
This is another way to say the bank will no longer send out paper statements or advices for all its services, including credit card payments (which we believe may increase the chance of people missing a payment).
