Pictou County resident honoured by RBC for environmentally-friendly banking

When Jim MacCabe switched from paper to electronic account bank statements this spring, he became RBC’s one millionth client to “turn off paper.” Mr. MacCabe is being honoured for making the switch during a special Client Appreciation Day event today at his Westville, Nova Scotia branch — all part of RBC’s year-long 10th anniversary celebration of online banking.

“We’re excited that our one millionth e-Statement client banks with us here in Nova Scotia, and that we could honour him in person at his local bank branch,” said Greg Grice, RBC regional president, Atlantic Canada, who is presenting Mr. MacCabe with a special gift to mark the occasion.

Added Doug Collins, head of Consumer Accounts and Payments, “We’ve offered this e-Statement option for less than a year, and to already have topped a million clients who have clicked on the ’turn off paper’ option, shows how much Canadians appreciate this convenience.”

RBC clients who opted for e-Statements over paper statements have helped reduce paper consumption by approximately 20 tonnes last year alone, saving about 220 megawatt-hours of energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by five tonnes.

In addition to providing e-Statements to clients, RBC Online Banking processes over 58 million online bill payment transactions annually - about 110 transactions every minute of every day. RBC Online Banking has almost 6,000 companies connected to online payment services. Throughout 2007, as part of its 10th anniversary celebrations, whenever a client pays a bill using RBC Online Banking, their name is automatically entered into a draw to win $500. Ten winners are selected each month and there is no limit to how many times a client can win.

RBC Online Banking was launched on December 16, 1996 and now serves more than three million clients online.

Highlights: Celebrating 10 years of RBC Online Banking

-December 1996 - RBC Online Banking is launched.


-January 1998 - RBC introduces NetAction Internet discount trading service, allowing investors to place equity, option and mutual fund orders in real time.


-July 2000 - One millionth client logs onto RBC Online Banking; today, RBC has over 3 million online clients.


-November 2000 - Clients can receive credit card, utility and other bills online.


-December 2001 - Clients can move funds online to other RBC clients; in October 2003, Interac Email Money Transfer expands this capability to non-RBC clients.


-January 2002 - Through “My View”, clients can view and manage their financial holdings held at RBC and elsewhere.


-January 2002 - Clients can open a GIC account online; April 2002, they could open a personal deposit account.


-December 2002 - RBC Express Treasury Management provides larger business clients with online Cash Management tools they can customize; in November 2005, RBC Express Business Basics is launched for small and medium businesses.


-August 2004 - Clients can transfer funds between their RBC Royal Bank accounts in Canada and RBC Centura accounts in the U.S., a feature still unique to RBC.


-June 2004 - Cheque images can be viewed online; today 90 per cent of cheque/tracing enquiries at RBC are completed online.


-July 2005 - Personal bank statements can be viewed online.


-May 2005 - New payment option (Interac Online) enables purchases by transferring funds from the client’s account to an online merchant.


-April 2006 - RBC Insurance is first to offer Canadians the ability to obtain a quote and purchase personal property and auto insurance completely online; in August 2006 clients can view existing policies and save quotes within online banking.


-May 2006 - As part of RBC’s ongoing online security awareness, RBC introduces its Online Guarantee to online banking clients, followed in September 2006 to its RBC Direct Investing clients.


-October 2006 - A virtual host named “May” is introduced to walk RBC website visitors through a demonstration of the online bill payments process, at www.rbcroyalbank.com/billpayments.


-January 2007 - RBC Online Banking launches its “10 Years of Online Banking Sweepstakes” contest, to celebrate a decade of online banking.


-March 2007 - One millionth online client opts to view electronic rather than paper bank statements via online “e-Statement” service.
For more details about RBC’s 10 Years of Online Banking Sweepstakes, including rules and regulations, please visit www.rbcroyalbank.com/10years.