Most Finance Execs Looking to Increase Efficiency, Reduce Paper Use

J.P. Morgan Treasury Services, sponsor of Treasury & Risk's first annual Going Green survey, found that approximately 80% of the more than 200 finance executives surveyed say green strategies or sustainability efforts have saved or are expected to save their company money. Approximately 79% of these executives expected to see increased efficiencies if they were to shift to a completely green treasury operation. Certain green strategies are quite popular, including converting paper-based treasury processes to electronic transactions, which was cited by 71% of participants.


"Migrating to electronic Treasury processes can have a measurable impact on a corporation's carbon footprint as large treasury operations can easily generate 5.5 tons of paper each year--the equivalent of 143 trees and 106 tons of greenhouse gasses," said Susan Webb, managing director, J.P. Morgan Treasury Services. "We sponsored this survey to highlight the benefits of establishing a completely green treasury and help bring greater focus to what role finance executives can take in improving corporate sustainability efforts."


"In addition to environmental concerns, today's economic climate is making it even more essential for treasury departments to go green," observed Gregory Long, Vice President, J.P. Morgan Treasury Services. "Many face tremendous pressure to trim costs, operate more efficiently and improve customer service. Electronic solutions help businesses automate workflow, give them instant access to financial data and eliminate the costs and risks of producing and storing paper."


J.P. Morgan Treasury Services began its own "Go Green" campaign in 2007. Since then, the Bank has helped treasury clients eliminate more than 101 million paper documents and save three million pounds of paper annually. In addition, J.P. Morgan clients report that the Bank's Web-enabled image technology has helped improve efficiency within their own treasury operations. For example, clients have decreased the amount of time needed to identify and resolve exceptions; manually enter data into accounts receivables or payables systems; manage, store and retrieve paper documents from on and off-site storage facilities; and research and respond to internal and external requests.


J.P. Morgan has made available more survey results can be found online at www.treasuryandrisk.com and a free white paper, Sustainable Treasury Management: It's Easier Than You Think. 


J.P. Morgan will be presenting a free webinar with its client AXA Equitable on Wednesday, October 13th at 2 pm ET titled "The Road to Green Treasury is Paved in Dollars Saved." Register Here

At the Paper Planet, we applaud this efficiency effort, and encourage businesses to incorporate these strategies.  Cost savings can in part be applied to implement other green initiatives, such as purchasing of environmentally responsible paper for purposes where it is still needed.  It is also important that J.P. Morgan and other businesses look honestly at the impact of energy used to power electronic transactions and data storage, and account for those impact as well, so that similar ingenuity can be applied to reducing the environmental footprint of that activity.