New York, April 24, 2013 - GE has been selected as the 2013 recipient of NACHA's PayItGreen Award for the positive environmental impact it has fostered by digitizing banking payments, statements and bills. GE and Swift collaborated to streamline treasury and banking operations utilizing Swift's eStatements utility to reduce GE's carbon footprint and realize significant costs savings.
An eStatement is a PDF electronic copy of a bank account's fiscal period end statement that is electronically transmitted over Swift to the account owner. eStatements allow financial institutions to securely transmit end of month bank statements, eliminating the need for paper statements, transportation and storage.
By moving more than 30 billion invoices to electronic delivery using eStatements, GE eliminated more than 1,470,000 tons of paper, saving over 15 million trees per year in the United States alone. The effort also reduced GE's carbon footprint by 2.8 tons by decreasing the need for storage and shipping. GE realized a cost savings of approximately $200,000 in fiscal year 2012 and estimates a cost savings of more than $1.5 million once the project is complete.
"NACHA's PayItGreen award is a great industry recognition of the tremendous work GE has done to minimize our carbon footprint, reduce costs and streamline operational efficiency across GE's more than 100 banking relationships in 98 countries," says Susan Boeri, Director, Product Management, GE. "In addition to diminishing GE's environmental impact by moving our bank invoices to electronic delivery using eStatements, we have also experienced a remarkable cost savings. The potential for continued reduction of paper and waste and the increase in efficiency are both tremendous."
"Swift congratulates GE on receiving this honor. We are proud to have been a collaborative partner in helping GE reduce costs, increase operational efficiency and improve the company's environmental impact," said Chris Church, Swift Chief Executive Americas and Global Head of Securities. "We look forward to continuing our work with GE as we find new ways to condense paper-based processes and lessen GE's carbon footprint."
NACHA's PayItGreen award honors individual or organizational leadership, vision and innovation in the education and promotion of electronic payments, statements and bills to reduce environmental impact. The award is open to any individual or organization that has demonstrated superior leadership in the development, implementation or advancement of programs that promote the positive environmental impact of choosing electronic payments, statements and bills.
About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter. The best people and the best technologies taking on the toughest challenges. Finding solutions in energy, health and home, transportation and finance. Building, powering, moving and helping to cure the world. Not just imagining. Doing. GE works. For more information, visit the company's website at www.ge.com.
About NACHA - The Electronic Payments Association
NACHA manages the development, administration, and governance of the ACH Network, the backbone for the electronic movement of money and data. The ACH Network provides a safe, secure, and reliable network for direct account-to-account consumer, business, and government payments. Annually, it facilitates billions of Direct Deposit via ACH and Direct Payment via ACH transactions. Used by all types of financial institutions, the ACH Network is governed by the fair and equitable NACHA Operating Rules, which guide risk management and create payment certainty for all participants. As a not-for-profit association, NACHA represents more than 10,000 financial institutions via 17 regional payments associations and direct membership. Through its industry councils and forums, NACHA brings together payments system stakeholders to foster dialogue and innovation to strengthen the ACH Network.
To learn more, please visit www.nacha.org, www.electronicpayments.org, www.payitgreen.org, and http://direct.nacha.org.
About Swift
Swift is a member-owned cooperative that provides the communications platform, products and services to connect more than 10,000 banking organisations, securities institutions and corporate customers in 212 countries and territories. Swift enables its users to exchange automated, standardised financial information securely and reliably, thereby lowering costs, reducing operational risk and eliminating operational inefficiencies. Swift also brings the financial community together to work collaboratively to shape market practice, define standards and debate issues of mutual interest.
For more information, please visit http://www.swift.com/ or follow us on http://www.twitter.com/swiftcommunity and Linkedin: Swift.
Swift
Ashley Schmidt
Tel: +1 212 455 1942
ashley.schmidt@swift.com
Intermarket Communications
Eileen Leonardo
Tel: +1 212 909 4782
eleonardo@swift.com
